• The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an agency of the U.S. federal government, is charged with the responsibility of ensuring food and prescription drugs are safe from intentional or unintentional risks. While the FDA has always employed a series of security regulations, several acts especially those passed since Sept. 11, 2001, directly impact the security practices of the FDA. Also, some of these acts can potentially help citizens in the event of a serious act of bioterrorism.
  
  

Project Bioshield Act

• The Project Bioshield Act, signed into federal law in 2004, allows the FDA Commissioner to approve the medical use of unapproved drugs if necessary to counteract any type of terrorist attacks. Due to this act, which amended Section 564 of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, FDA agents have increased abilities to protect the food and drug supply especially when it comes to potential acts of terrorism.
  
  

Security Surveillance Program

• Part of FDA security requirements is periodic surveillance of medication and food shipments; also, agents with the organization sometimes conduct projects where they issue additional special monitoring to the country's food supply during major events such as political party conventions. Such efforts also monitor just how well other local and federal agencies are prepared to deal with the security and health risks associated with potential food and drug supply contamination.
  
  These types of efforts also serve as essential security training for FDA agents. Security surveillance enables FDA personnel to test and strengthen their skills in responding to potential risks to the food and drug supply whether contamination results from terrorist or non-terrorist acts.
  
  

Food Security Training

• FDA employees also administer food security training for private citizens who work in related industries. Also, they can train state and local law enforcement as well as U.S. Department of Agriculture employees about the skills needed to protect food security. Since Sept. 11, 2001, the courses have primarily focused on the potential of terrorists deliberately contaminating the nation's food supply or attacking eateries like restaurants.
  
  As of 2010, coursework also includes information about unintentional food contamination as a potential health risk. An online course is also available to those interested in learning more about the food security field; USDA employees aided in creating the online course content.