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Government=Food?!?!
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Did you know that the government plays a large role with the
food that you eat? It is the responsibility of the United States
government to insure that the food that you eat is safe.
Throughout this WebQuest, you will learn what agency's
responsibility is food safety and how it ties in to the Executive
Branch of the government. Click on "Directions" below to
figure out how the government relates to food.
Directions
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Directions
Follow the A.B.C links below to view pages on how the United
States government and the food that you eat are tied together.
As you go through this WebQuest, be sure to fill out your
worksheet!
1. Homepage
2. Directions
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A. What is the FDA?
B. The role of the government
C. Ensuring that your food is safe.
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What is the FDA
What is the FDA?
F-D-A
1.Have you ever heard of the FDA? What do you think the FDA
stands for? What do you think they do?
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What is the FDA
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FDA stands for The Food and Drug Administration.
The FDA is a government agency within the United States
Public Health Service, which is a part of the Department
of Health and Human Services.
The FDA is responsible for ensuring that the foods YOU
EAT are safe and sanitary. It ensures that these products
are honestly, accurately, and informatively represented to
the public.
As well as foods, the FDA is also responsible for biological
products, cosmetics, medical devices, medicine,
radiation-emitting products, and veterinary products.
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What is the FDA
*Information available at:
http://www.fda.gov/
1.Home
2.Directions
A. What is the FDA?
B. The role of the government
C. Ensuring that your food is safe
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The Role of the Government and Food
You now know that the FDA is a governmental agency. So what does it
have to do with the food that you eat?
There are 3 branches of the United States government.
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Legislative
Executive
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Judicial
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The FDA falls under the Executive Branch. The Executive Branch consists
of the president, the vice president, and the heads of 15 executive
departments.
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One of these departments is the Department of Health and Human
Services. The HHS was established to protect the health of all Americans
and provide essential human services.
The HHS, has eleven agencies, one of which is the FDA.
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1.Home Page
2. Directions
A. What is the FDA?
B. The role of the government
C. Ensuring that your Food is Safe
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Is your Food Safe???
So what does the FDA do to ensure that the food YOU eat, is safe? The
FDA has created a Food Protection Plan, which is a three step strategy to
help ensure that the food you eat is safe.
Prevention
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The first step to ensure safe food is PREVENTION.
The FDA tries to prevent, or to keep food borne illnesses from
happening in the United States by taking several steps.
In order to PREVENT food borne illnesses and other food related
issues, the FDA works with industry, state, local, and foreign
governments to develop new tools and technology to identify areas
where our food supply may be at risk.
Intervention
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The second step of safe food is INTERVENTION.
Intervention is stepping in to solve a problem before the problem gets
too big.
The FDA's goal of intervention is to make sure that the preventive
steps with food are implemented and that contaminated food is
identified when preventive measure are not taken or fail. So if there is
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a problem, it is stopped before it reaches your kitchen table.
Response
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If there is a problem with any foods, the FDA RESPONDS to this
problem immediately.
They try to make the period of time between the detection of a foodborne illness and the containment very fast, so that more people will
not become sick. This is when you will hear about food recalls on
television.
The FDA wants to prevent as many people from getting sick as
possible.
*Information available at:
http://www.fda.gov/oc/initiatives/advance/food/factsheet.html
1.Home
2.Directions
A. What is the FDA?
B. The role of the government
C. Ensuring that your food is safe
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