By Marty Makary, M.D., M.P.H., Commissioner of Food and Drugs, FDA
LinkedIn: Marty Makary, M.D., M.P.H.
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2026 is a special year for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It marks our 120th year of service to this nation. In honor of this occasion, and to help the public better understand who we are and the many functions we fulfill, we’ve recently unveiled an official agency seal, our first ever. It signifies the many public health strides we’ve made over the decades, including this past year, while also inspiring more powerful outcomes to make Americans safer and healthier, and we hope, affirm your trust in us.
The FDA’s new seal may at first seem simple. There’s familiar imagery: a snake-entwined staff symbolizes medicine. A badge signifies enforcement and protection. An eagle, most naturally, represents our nation and all of you whom we serve.
But if you ask any of our committed staff working across a wide variety of disciplines what the seal means to them, they’ll likely tell you it reflects so much more.
The First Food and Drug Safety Law
Before the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act was signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt, no national food or drug safety standards existed. Americans gambled with their health when eating store-bought goods or treating their sick children. A popular teething syrup for babies in the early 1900s contained not only alcohol, but morphine too.
Since then, time and again, FDA staff, including physicians, researchers, inspectors, investigators, and drug reviewers, have answered the call to protect and promote health, including in a modern era that poses new risks, but also the promise of never-before-seen medical treatments.
Public Health Responders and Advocates, Around the World
Today, FDA employees work to prevent and respond to public health crises and emergencies, for example when a foodborne illness strikes or a hurricane decimates local drug supplies. They inspect foreign drug facilities to ensure the safety of generic medicines. They analyze suspicious food and drug samples to determine the presence of unsafe contaminants. They track down drug-peddling criminals who prey on desperate patients.
They also help bring life-changing therapies to market. They advocate for children and infants, and for patients with hard-to-tackle rare diseases. They strive daily for patient safety—and patient access to meaningful treatments.
All of these critical services and more can be found within the FDA’s seal. (Please read on to learn more about its individual elements.) Our mission is there too: Ad Salutem Publican Tuendam, Latin for “protecting the public health.” Or, as FDA employees know it well: Protect the Public Health.
We here at the FDA are committed, today and for the next 120 years and beyond, to doing all we can to enhance the safety of your family’s foods, medicines, and pharmaceutical drugs, to diminish disease and illness across this country, and to make Americans healthier. Thank you for putting your trust in us.
Story Behind the Seal
Border: 120 golden triangles create the border of the seal, representing 120 years of the FDA’s service to the American people. The same triangles also serve as the border of the HHS seal, providing a linkage to the FDA’s parent department, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Shield: The white shield symbolizes the FDA’s high ideals and commitment to the civil and criminal enforcement of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act with transparency and virtue.
Staff of Aesculapius, the Greek god of medicine: The ancient Greeks considered the snake a symbol of healing and medicine given the creature’s ability to shed its skin and rejuvenate. Atop the staff is a finial in the form of a small globe, signifying the many international locations where FDA public health servants work.
The Eagle: Notice how its wings are widely expanded? That’s a nod to the agency’s sweeping mission of public health protection, and our commitment to maintaining the safety and quality of the food, medicines, and other products Americans use in their daily lives.
Open book: As you might have guessed, this represents learning, knowledge, and the pursuit of science. It also symbolizes the laws that the FDA steadfastly upholds, including the 1906 Act which brought our agency into existence. The book’s binding is colored red to convey the power and authority of the FDA, the oldest comprehensive consumer protection agency in the U.S. federal government.
Double-helix DNA: Can you find it? The twisting symbol lies to the left of the white shield, against the blue background. It denotes the FDA’s powerful commitment to gold-standard science and best-in-the world medical technology.
Grains: To the other side of the badge lies an image of grains, an embodiment of the nation’s food supply and the FDA’s responsibility of setting and enforcing food safety standards. Today, this also includes numerous food imports in demand by Americans from around the world, whose safety and quality must be investigated and verified by the FDA at U.S. points of entry.
Eight Stars: Each of the stars represent a product area that the FDA oversees: food, drugs, medical devices, radiation-emitting products, vaccines/blood/biologics, animal and veterinary, cosmetics, and tobacco.
This article was originally published on FDA Voices and is reprinted here with permission.
