FSIS's legal authority to regulate meat and poultry products is derived from:

• A. Statutes
• B. Regulations
• C. Notices
• D. District Managers

Answer: (A)

FSIS gets its legal authority from statutes enacted by Congress. Those laws authorize the agency to regulate meat and poultry products, setting the framework for inspection, safety standards, labeling, and handling. The Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Poultry Products Inspection Act (along with related laws) are the prime examples of statutes that grant this authority. Regulations are the agency’s specific rules that implement these statutes, detailing how inspections are carried out and what standards must be met; they are issued under the authority granted by the statutes and are published in the Code of Federal Regulations. Notices are official communications about rulemaking or enforcement actions, not the source of authority. District Managers are personnel who enforce the rules, not the source of the legal power itself.