US FDA suspends food safety quality checks after staff cuts

[highplainsdem]

Source: Reuters

The Food and Drug Administration is suspending a quality control program for its food testing laboratories as a result of staff cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services, according to an internal email seen by Reuters.

The proficiency testing program of the FDA's Food Emergency Response Network is designed to ensure consistency and accuracy across the agency's network of about 170 labs that test food for pathogens and contaminants to prevent food-borne illness.

-snip-

"Unfortunately, significant reductions in force, including a key quality assurance officer, an analytical chemist, and two microbiologists at FDA's Human Food Program Moffett Center have an immediate and significant impact on the Food Emergency Response Network (FERN) Proficiency Testing (PT) Program," says the email sent on Tuesday from FERN's National Program Office and seen by Reuters.

The program will be suspended at least through September 30 and means the agency will be unable to do planned quality control work around lab testing for the parasite Cyclospora in spinach or the pesticide glyphosate in barley, among other tests, the email says.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-fda-suspends-food-safety-quality-checks-after-staff-cuts-2025-04-17/

[Irish_Dem]

1. Make America sick again.

3,000 Americans die from food borne illnesses each year.
48 million illnesses and 128,000 hospitalizations annually.

[SamKnause]

2. And the republicans and trump cult sit with their fingers up their asses.

They don't give a fuck what trump does.

Until it touches them personally they don't give a fuck.

They didn't care when 1 million+ died from covid.

They truly are sick and evil.

[Lulu KC]

3. glyphosate in barley

I hadn't even imagined it being there before, but now I know.

Every day, more disaster. Where's RFK about chemicals in our food now? Rhetorical question.

[Karma13612]

4. Well this sux...

So, I guess I’m a bit slow. Does this mean the FDA isn’t testing our food anymore?
Or is this kinda like testing the labs that do the testing?

I’m confused and the Reuters article didn’t make it clear.

[PSPS]

6. They're not testing the food anymore. trump appointed a quack "doctor" as its head

His name is Martin Makary. He has all the trump-ish "qualifications" in addition to his absolute loyalty to the king.

* During Covid, he opposed vaccine mandates and other public health measures
* Promoted the silly theory that people would quickly become "naturally immune" to Covid
* He's an outspoken critic of the FDA itself
* He's the go-to person on Fox News because he reliably pushes politics ahead of science.

And he reports to Bob, the brain-diseased heroin addict who has no education in medicine at all.

[Karma13612]

8. Groan

This is a nightmare.

Thanks for that info. 😢

[Oopsie Daisy]

5. So, the Boars Head meat processing plant in Virginia can reopen without worrying about being shut down?

[Javaman]

7. Upton Sinclair just rolled in his grave nt