FDA discontinues Food Advisory Committee

The Food Advisory Committee was established in 1992 but had not met since 2015.

FDA said it will address issues through other standing committees and consulting with experts in appropriate subjects as needed.

The agency added it plans to seek advice from the Risk Communication Advisory Committee to address best practices for communicating with consumers about unavoidable contaminants in the food supply.

CFSAN will continue to hold workshops, meetings, conferences and webinars with stakeholders.

Lisa Lefferts, senior scientist at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), said the decision is evidence of the ‘low value’ the administration places on independent scientific advice as it now has no advisory committee on food.

“The agency says it will get scientific advice in other ways, such as through its Science Advisory Board​,” said Lefferts, who served as a consumer representative on the FDA Food Advisory Committee from 2011-14.

“But many of its members lack expertise on food issues. And other ways of obtaining such advice, such as soliciting expert advice, workshops, and symposia, may lack the independence, conflict of interest screens and consumer presence that are required of advisory committees.”  ​