The federal food drug and cosmetic act and subsequent amending statutes are codified into title 21 chapter 9 of the united states code the listing of fdc act sections presented here identifies. The united states federal food drug and cosmetic act is a set of laws passed by congress in 1938 giving authority to the us food and drug administration to oversee the safety of food drugs medical devices and cosmetics a principal author of this law was royal s copeland a three term us senator from new york in 1968 the electronic product radiation control provisions were added to the fdc also in that year the fda formed the drug efficacy study implementation to incorporate into. Federal food drug and cosmetic act as amended through pl 113 233 enacted december 16 2014 chapter i short title section 1 o21 usc 301 this act may be cited as the fed eral food drug and cosmetic act chapter ii definitions1 sec 201 o21 usc 321 for the purposes of this act 2. 21 us code chapter 9 federal food drug and cosmetic act us code notes prev next subchapter i short title section 301 subchapter ii definitions 321 321d subchapter iii prohibited acts and penalties 331 337a subchapter iv food 341 350l 1. Section 408 of the federal food drug and cosmetic act ffdca authorizes epa to set tolerances or maximum residue limits for pesticide residues on foods if residues are found above that level the commodity will be subject to seizure