IN Brief:
- The Federal and State Food Safety Information Sharing Act of 2026 has been reintroduced in Congress.
- The bill would allow FDA to share unredacted outbreak, inspection, testing, recall, and complaint information with state and local agencies.
- The proposal follows continued scrutiny of information gaps in US food recall and outbreak response systems.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration could gain new authority to share food safety information with state and local agencies under legislation reintroduced in Congress.
The Federal and State Food Safety Information Sharing Act of 2026 has been introduced by Congresswoman Deborah Ross of North Carolina and Congressman Michael Rulli of Ohio. The bipartisan proposal would allow FDA to share information with state, local, tribal, and territorial agencies involved in protecting public health during contamination and foodborne illness incidents.
The bill is designed to address a current restriction in which FDA cannot share certain information because it is considered proprietary. State and local agencies conduct a majority of food processing inspections for FDA, making access to timely information central to outbreak investigations, recall coordination, and enforcement activity.
The proposed authority would cover foodborne illness surveillance data, laboratory sampling and testing information, inspectional information and results, distribution lists for recalls and outbreaks, consumer complaints, and other information FDA determines would assist in protecting the public from foodborne threats.
The act was originally introduced in 2024 and is linked to concerns raised by the 2023 lead chromate contamination incident involving cinnamon applesauce pouches. That incident exposed weaknesses in information sharing across federal and state agencies during a national food safety response.
“In my home state of North Carolina, we have seen how information sharing between federal and state agencies during a food safety crisis led to a food recall that saved lives across the country,” said Congresswoman Ross. “We must empower FDA to share information with the state and local agencies that are not only responsible for conducting the majority of food safety inspections nationwide, but also with keeping Americans safe during times of crisis.”
“For too long, bureaucratic walls have slowed down real-time cooperation on food safety,” said Congressman Rulli. “This bill is a practical reform that cuts red tape, enables faster responses to threats, and delivers stronger protections for Ohio families and families across the country without adding new mandates or spending.”
Food safety response systems are becoming more data-dependent while remaining highly fragmented. Processors, importers, co-manufacturers, brokers, retailers, laboratories, and public agencies all hold pieces of the information needed to identify contaminated products, trace distribution, assess risk, and remove affected goods from the market. Delays in connecting those pieces can extend exposure and complicate recall execution.
Reduced information barriers could accelerate state involvement in investigations, communication of testing results, and access to distribution or inspection information during emerging incidents. Faster regulatory coordination would also increase expectations around recall readiness, supplier documentation, lot traceability, and the quality of internal records held by manufacturers and importers.
The bill also fits a wider US debate about FDA food oversight. Food safety modernisation has pushed the sector towards prevention, traceability, environmental monitoring, and risk-based inspection. Outbreak response still depends on agencies being able to share information quickly once a problem emerges. Where state agencies perform inspection work on FDA’s behalf, limited access to federal information creates a mismatch between operational responsibility and usable intelligence.
Data sharing will not replace plant controls, supplier approval, or verification testing. It can determine how quickly a contaminated product is located, how precisely a recall is scoped, and how efficiently agencies avoid duplicating work during a crisis. The bill’s progress will be watched closely across the food safety, inspection, import, and recall management landscape.
