F.D.A. Seeks an outside review of struggling food and tobacco units

The agency's commissioner has asked an outside foundation to review its operations in the wake of the infant formula and vaping crisis.< /p>

The Food and Drug Administration has commissioned a review of its food and tobacco programs following public outrage over baby formula shortages and concerns about flavored nicotine products.

Dr . Robert Califf, the head of the F.D.A., said the agency faced issues that "tested our regulatory frameworks and strained agency operations," prompting the review announced Tuesday. /p>

The review will be conducted by the Reagan-Udall Foundation, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the agency. Its directors include leaders from nonprofit, academic, business, and trade associations.

Congressional lawmakers have hammered the agency for its handling of the shortage of infant formula, saying it was slow to heed a whistleblower's warning about the struggling factory and failed to prioritize food safety. For several years now, the agency has also come under scrutiny for what some see as a failure to stem the teenage vaping crisis.

During a congressional hearing on Wednesday, Dr. Califf defended the agency, but said it was still possible to review the structure, funding and direction of its food safety division, which has the power monitoring consumer goods like infant formula.

"We have the safest foods in the world," Dr. Califf told subcommittee members Senate appropriations. "Every expert I've spoken to - the C.D.C. is watching this carefully - has said our food is as safe as it's ever been. So to say it doesn't work is, in my opinion, just incorrect. That's not to say it can't be much better and there aren't major issues. So, you know, that's why we're doing this top-down review and planning to make some changes important."

Dr. Califf said the country's food system was being challenged by supply chain issues and climate change and that it could better embrace the technological revolution.

The agency is also calling for a review of its tobacco division and its law enforcement operations as it faces to "a growing number of new products that could potentially have significant health consequences public," according to a statement. They included high-potency cannabis products, including vapes, which are linked to addiction and psychosis in teens.

Legislators and the public pressured the F.D.A. to take action against makers of synthetic nicotine flavored e-cigarettes in flavors that appeal to young people. Congress gave the agency the authority to remove these products from the market in April, and the enforcement powers went into effect earlier this month.

Still, the agency said it was reviewing the marketing applications of about one million applicants submitted by about 200 companies. It issued warnings to two companies, which were selling around 10,000 types of vape products without permission.

Lawmakers and a group of doctors urged the agency to move faster, however, with a group of pediatricians from Massachusetts General Hospital and other