Office of Regulatory Affairs

The Food and Drug Administration, a sub-agency of the Department of Health and Human Services, administers federal grants to support food safety training, workforce development, and regulatory capacity-building at state and local health departments and partner organizations. FDA's grant portfolio spans 834 awards totaling $1.6 billion in federal dollars obligated since 2008, with 185 distinct recipients. Recent grant activity shows volatility: 58 awards in 2021, 24 in 2022, 74 in 2023, 15 in 2024, and 76 in 2025, with the most recent award closed on 2025-09-25.

The grant-recipient base is fragmented. The National Environmental Health Association and Association of Food & Drug Officials lead by award count over the last five years with 7 awards each ($68.8 million and $67.8 million federal dollars obligated respectively), together accounting for 15 percent of recent awards. State agriculture departments—Minnesota, Michigan, and Ohio—follow with 5, 5, and 4 awards respectively. The top five recipients by federal dollars account for 11 percent of the obligated total. The remaining 180 recipients consist primarily of state and local health agencies, universities, and nonprofit organizations working in food safety and environmental health.

FDA's grant portfolio is overwhelmingly structured as Cooperative Agreements: 771 of 834 awards (92 percent) carry that instrument, with Project Grants comprising the remaining 8 percent. Cooperative Agreements reflect FDA's partnership model with state regulatory agencies and public-health organizations that share implementation responsibility for food-safety training and standards-compliance programs. The portfolio does not include contract opportunities or contract awards; FDA's procurement activity on the contract side is not recorded against this agency at the award or solicitation level.