New developments in the field of biomedicine, including new genomic and cellular therapies, present tremendous opportunities for their applications to animal health, welfare and food production, as documented in FDA-CVM’s Animal and Veterinary Industry Agenda (AVIA), published in 2023. Given these new innovations, as well as the influence of animal health and its impact on the U.S. economy and food prices, FDA-CVM asked the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA (the Foundation) to conduct an analysis of the animal health and veterinary medicine sectors.

A report released last year by the nonprofit Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA on the Food Traceability Rule noted that many retailers, suppliers, and distributors were not even aware of the sweeping standard. It also highlighted concerns related to data usage and sharing, technology, and the complexity of the process.