Editing Food and Drug Administration (section)

===Field locations===
[[File:Toxicology Research at FDA (NCTR Campus) (6023336064).jpg|thumb|upright=1.8|The Arkansas Laboratory in [[Jefferson, Jefferson County, Arkansas|Jefferson, Arkansas]] is the headquarters of the National Center for Toxicological Research.]]

==== Office of Regulatory Affairs ====
The [[Office of Regulatory Affairs]] is considered the agency's "eyes and ears", conducting the vast majority of the FDA's work in the field.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Key FDA Policies for Medical Device Manufacturer Inspections |url=https://www.nsf.org/knowledge-library/key-fda-policies-procedures-practices-before-during-after-medical-device-manufacturer-inspections |access-date=January 2, 2025 |website=www.nsf.org |language=en}}</ref> Its employees, known as Consumer Safety Officers, or more commonly known simply as investigators, inspect production, warehousing facilities, investigate complaints, illnesses, or outbreaks, and review documentation in the case of medical devices, drugs, biological products, and other items where it may be difficult to conduct a physical examination or take a physical sample of the product. The Office of Regulatory Affairs is divided into five regions, which are further divided into 20 districts. The districts are based roughly on the geographic divisions of the [[United States federal court system|Federal court system]]. Each district comprises a main district office and a number of Resident Posts, which are FDA remote offices that serve a particular geographic area. ORA also includes the Agency's network of regulatory laboratories, which analyze any physical samples taken. Though samples are usually food-related, some laboratories are equipped to analyze drugs, cosmetics, and radiation-emitting devices.

==== Office of Criminal Investigations ====
[[File:US Food and Drug Administration Office 20180930.jpg|thumb|Jamaica, Queens, New York Regional Office - USFDA]]
The [[Office of Criminal Investigations]] was established in 1991 to investigate criminal cases. To do so, OCI employs approximately 200 Special Agents nationwide who, unlike ORA Investigators, are armed, have badges, and do not focus on technical aspects of the regulated industries. Rather, OCI agents pursue and develop cases when individuals and companies commit criminal actions, such as fraudulent claims or knowingly and willfully shipping known adulterated goods in interstate commerce. In many cases, OCI pursues cases involving violations of [[Title 18 of the United States Code]] (e.g., conspiracy, false statements, wire fraud, mail fraud), in addition to prohibited acts as defined in Chapter III of the FD&C Act. OCI Special Agents often come from other criminal investigations backgrounds, and frequently work closely with the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], [[United States Assistant Attorney General|Assistant Attorney General]], and even [[Interpol]]. OCI receives cases from a variety of sources—including ORA, local agencies, and the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]], and works with ORA Investigators to help develop the technical and science-based aspects of a case.<ref>{{Cite journal | author = Office of Regulatory Affairs |date=October 7, 2021 |title=About OCI |url=https://www.fda.gov/inspections-compliance-enforcement-and-criminal-investigations/criminal-investigations/about-oci |journal=FDA |language=en |access-date=January 14, 2023 |archive-date=January 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114025654/https://www.fda.gov/inspections-compliance-enforcement-and-criminal-investigations/criminal-investigations/about-oci |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Other locations ====
The FDA has a number of field offices across the United States, in addition to international locations in China, India, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America.<ref>{{cite web |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=May 21, 2020 |title=Buildings and Facilities |url=https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/jobs-and-training-fda/buildings-and-facilities |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200421020851/https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/jobs-and-training-fda/buildings-and-facilities |archive-date=April 21, 2020 |access-date=May 20, 2020 | publisher = U.S. Food and Drug Administration |language=en}}</ref>