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FDA/CFSAN Privacy Policy and Disclaimers

Thank you for visiting the FDA/CFSAN web site and for reviewing our Privacy Policy. Please note that:

We collect no information about you, other than information automatically collected and stored (see below), when you visit our web site unless you choose to provide that information to us.

Privacy Policy for The FDA/CFSAN VM Web Site

Information Collected and Stored Automatically

When you visit the "www.cfsan.fda.gov" web site, if you do nothing during your visit but browse through the web site, read pages, or download information, we will gather and store certain information about your visit automatically. This information does not identify you personally. We automatically collect and store only the following aggregated general information about your visit:

  • the pages you visit,
  • the date and time you access our site,
  • the name of the domain from which you access the Internet (for example, aol.com, if you are coming from an America Online account, or purdue.edu if you are connecting from Purdue University's domain),
  • the Internet address of the website from which you linked directly to our site, and
  • your operating system and browser.

We use this information

  • to measure the number of visitors to the different food and nutrition sections of our site,
  • to help us make our site more useful
  • to develop and code content pages so that most people will be able to view the pages correctly.

If You Send Us Personal Information

If you choose to provide us with personal information, as in an e-mail message or by filling out a form, we store the question and e-mail address information so that we can answer the question that was sent in, and send the answer back to the e-mail or other address or phone provided. If you send us a comment, we relay the comment to the most appropriate program manager in the agency. If enough questions or comments come in that are the same, the question may be added to our Question and Answer section, or the suggestions may be used to guide the design of our Web site. Unless otherwise required by statute, we do not identify publicly who sends questions or comments into our web site.

Children's Privacy

We collect no information from children under 13. If a child sends us an e-mail inquiry or comment, we answer, then delete the e-mail from our files.

CFSAN Listservs

If you subscribe to a CFSAN Listserv, CFSAN considers your e-mail address confidential and it will not be released under FOI. For your convenience, you can subscribe to other government and non-government Listservs from our site. Each Listserv has its own privacy policy which you should check prior to subscribing.

Disclosure

FDA does not disclose, give, sell or transfer any personal information about our visitors, unless required for law enforcement or by statute. We will only use personally identifying information to respond to you or to help us perform our public health duties. In those cases, various people may see the personal information you provide in order to look into the matter you inquired about.

We may enter the information you send into an electronic database, to share with our attorneys and investigators involved in law enforcement or policy-making. We may also share it with other government agencies that have public health or consumer protection duties. FDA or any of those agencies may contact you. In other limited circumstances, including requests from Congress or private individuals, we may be required by law to disclose information you submit.

Also, e-mail is not necessarily secure against interception. If you are worried because your communication is very sensitive, or includes personal information such as your social security number, you can send it by postal mail instead.

Disclaimer of Endorsement

Links to Other Sites

Our web site has links to many other federal agencies, and in a few cases we link to private organizations. If you access another site through a link we provide, you are subject to the privacy policy of the new site.

Reference in this web site to any specific commercial products, process, service, manufacturer, or company does not constitute its endorsement or recommendation by the US Government, FDA, or CFSAN. FDA/CFSAN is not responsible for the contents of any 'OFF-SITE' web pages referenced from this server.

Endorsement Disclaimer - Pop-Up Advertisements

When visiting our Web site, your Web browser may produce pop-up advertisements. These advertisements were most likely produced by other Web sites you visited or by third party software installed on your computer. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration does not endorse or recommend products or services for which you may view a pop-up advertisement on your computer screen while visiting our site.

Required Disclaimer Notice

The information provided using this WEB Server is only intended to be General Summary Information to the Public. It is not intended to take the place of either the written law or regulations. For an authoritative source, the FDA Regulations are published in the CFR - Code of Federal Regulations, and are available in book format from the Superintendent of Documents, US Government Printing Office.

Information Quality Guidelines

FDA/CFSAN is dedicated to ensuring that all data it disseminates reflect a level of quality commensurate with the nature and timeliness of the information. Futher, FDA seeks to disseminate all its data as broadly and promptly as possible so that the public can benefit from FDA's work of ensuring that foods are safe, wholesome, sanitary, and properly labeled and that cosmetics are safe and properly labeled. In keeping with this commitment, and in accordance with OMB requirements, the FDA has developed draft Information Quality Guidelines for public review and comment.

US Government Computer

This site is maintained by the U.S. Government. It is protected by various provisions of Title 18, U.S. Code. Violations of Title 18 are subject to criminal prosecution in federal court.

Intrusion Detection

For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, we employ software programs to monitor traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. In the event of authorized law enforcement investigations, and pursuant to any required legal process, information from these sources may be used to help identify an individual.

 

Comments or Questions
Privacy Policies for FDA and HHS
CFSAN is a part of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

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