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# Domestic Inspections Resume Standard Operations
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/domestic-inspections-resume-standard-operations/
- Published: 2021-07-20T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T17:06:55.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: FDA Policy/General, #legacy-id-D5149750

Beginning this month, FDA started transitioning back to standard operations for domestic inspections, according to acting commissioner **Janet Woodcock**. Delivering the keynote presentation at a 7/19 Regulatory Education for Industry conference, Woodcock noted how the pandemic shut down physical inspections early last year and then in July 2020 certain inspections resumed under a Covid-19 rating system that permitted site inspections if Covid was controlled in the community where the inspection would occur. Now, according to Woodcock, domestic inspections have resumed without restrictions, whereas only mission-critical inspections are occurring at foreign manufacturing sites.

In May, Woodcock released a [report](https://www.fda.gov/media/148197/download?utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fsource=govdelivery), “Resiliency Roadmap for FDA Inspectional Oversight,” that identified over 8,000 surveillance inspections not conducted in 2020 that have been rolled into planning for 2021 inspections. FDA planned to conduct 21,000 inspections in 2020, and due to the Covid backlog, the agency now has planned for 26,250 surveillance inspections in 2021, reflecting those identified through the agency's usual planning processes and criteria, and rolling over any remaining surveillance inspections postponed from 2020, according to the report.

Last week, FDA associate commissioner for regulatory affairs **Judy McMeekin** told an Alliance for a Stronger FDA update that the agency recently held its first FDA Inspectional Affairs Council meeting to discuss optimizing agency inspections on an enterprise- or cross-agency basis ([see earlier story](https://www.fdaweb.com/fda-inspection-council-holds-1st-meeting/)). She said the council comprises top leadership from each of the Centers and Office of Regulatory Affairs who are charged with providing insight on strategies and initiatives, such as the type of new technologies that can be used and how to optimize the agency’s inspection process. “It's really important that we have these discussions on policy issues surrounding inspections as across-agency and as an enterprise, so that we can ensure optimal agency resources across the agency, and really navigate the regulatory landscape for many years ahead,” McMeekin said.