Food safety in the United States is overseen by two primary federal agencies: the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Understanding how these agencies work — and where they fall short — is essential context for understanding food illness lawsuits, because regulatory failures frequently become critical evidence in civil litigation. A Grafton, WV personal injury lawyer can help victims of foodborne illness understand their legal options and evaluate whether evidence involving the responsible company may support a personal injury claim.
Who regulates what:
The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) regulates meat, poultry, and processed egg products, and inspectors are stationed in every federally inspected slaughterhouse in the country. The FDA regulates virtually everything else — fresh produce, dairy, seafood, processed foods, dietary supplements, and bottled water. This split jurisdiction creates jurisdictional gaps and inconsistencies. A pizza with meat toppings, for example, involves both agencies.
The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA):
Signed into law in 2011, FSMA was the most sweeping reform of U.S. food safety law in more than seven decades. It shifted the FDA’s focus from responding to outbreaks after they happen to preventing them in the first place. Under FSMA, food companies must implement formal Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls (HARPC) plans, conduct regular environmental monitoring for pathogens, and verify that their suppliers meet safety standards. FSMA also gave the FDA new mandatory recall authority — previously, all recalls were voluntary.
Despite these advances, implementation has been uneven. FDA inspection frequencies for many domestic facilities remain far below statutory targets, and agency resources have not always kept pace with the complexity of the modern global food supply.
How regulatory failures become legal evidence:
When companies violate FDA or USDA regulations — failing to sanitize equipment properly, ignoring positive Listeria test results, maintaining improper refrigeration temperatures, or failing to implement required food safety plans — those violations become powerful evidence in civil lawsuits. Plaintiffs’ attorneys routinely obtain inspection records, Form 483 observations, warning letters, audit findings, and environmental testing data through public records requests and litigation discovery.
Regulatory violations don’t automatically equal civil liability. A company can have food safety violations and not be responsible for a specific person’s illness. But they dramatically strengthen a plaintiff’s case by demonstrating that the company knew or should have known about the contamination risk — and failed to act.
In the most egregious cases, such as the Peanut Corporation of America outbreak, executives knowingly shipped products that tested positive for Salmonella and faced both criminal prosecution and massive civil liability. Regulatory and criminal records from that prosecution became central evidence in hundreds of civil lawsuits. Understanding the regulatory record of a defendant company is one of the first things a skilled food safety attorney investigates when evaluating a new case.
For victims, the lesson is straightforward: regulatory history matters. Before filing suit, a thorough review of inspection records, warning letters, and enforcement actions can reveal whether a company has a pattern of negligence — and that pattern can be the difference between a modest settlement and a truly significant verdict. The regulatory record is public. A skilled food safety attorney knows exactly where to look. If you have been affected by contaminated food, contact Hayhurst Law PLLC to discuss your situation and learn more about your legal options.
