Cuts to Health & Human Services raise concerns about the FDA’s ability to conduct food-safety inspections

Romaine lettuce was implicated in an E. coli outbreak that sickened 89. One person died. | Photo: Shutterstock.

Concern is growing about the nation’s food-safety protection network.

Cuts at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have resulted in the suspension of key quality control programs designed to protect against foodborne illness, according to a Reuters report Thursday.

The firing and departure of as many as 20,000 HHS employees have upended public health research and disrupted the agency’s work, including programs within the U.S. Food and Drug Administration tied to food safety.

An E. coli outbreak linked to romaine lettuce in 15 states late last year sickened 89 people, for example. There were 36 hospitalized, and one person died. The lettuce had been served at two restaurants, a catered event and a school.

And though the investigation was concluded in January, the outbreak—and the source of the contamination—was not disclosed publicly by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the FDA.

FDA officials told NBC News that by the time the source was identified, the outbreak had ended and there was no actionable advice for consumers.

Bill Marler, a prominent food-safety attorney representing several people sickened in the outbreak in lawsuits, said the lettuce came from Taylor Farms, the same supplier indicated in the E.coli outbreak last year tied to sliced onions at McDonald’s.

Taylor Farms officials, however, said in a statement their product was not the source of the outbreak.

“We perform extensive raw and finished product testing on all our product and there was no evidence of contamination,” the statement said. “Any reporting that connects Taylor Farms products to these heartbreaking illnesses is dangerous, irresponsible and unfair to the impacted families.”

Marler provided documents from the CDC and FDA concluding that romaine was the source of the contamination, but the supplier of the lettuce was either not identified or redacted.

“It is disappointing, but with 20,000 employees at Health and Human Services (HHS) being fired, investigating and reporting on outbreaks and alerting the public to the cause is clearly not a priority for this administration,” Marler said in a statement. “If the gutted CDC and FDA can no longer do the job, we will step up to inform and protect the public—so much for ‘Make America Healthy Again (MAHA).’”

Meanwhile, the Reuters report indicated that the FDA’s Food Emergency Response Network (FERN) proficiency testing program has been suspended, at least through September 30. 

FERN is designed to ensure consistency and accuracy across a network of about 170 labs that test food for pathogens and contaminants to prevent foodborne illness, such as testing for the parasite Cyclospora in spinach or for the pesticide glyphosate in barley, among other things, the report said.

“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,” the report said, quoting an internal email.

The testing program is critical to demonstrating the competency and readiness of the lab network to detect and respond to food safety events, the email said.

HHS officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Marler said what’s unclear about the HHS cuts is whether the federal government intends to shift inspections to the state departments of agriculture. 

It has always been the case that the FDA did not have enough inspectors to do the kind of work required for food safety, particularly for the higher-risk ingredients, like infant formula or leafy greens, that require more attention, he said. Often the federal government relied on state partners.

The previous Administration had already proposed cuts in funding to programs at the state level, but the Trump Administration’s aggressive plan to reduce government bureaucracy has further threatened the viability of programs designed to identify and pull potentially dangerous products out of the nation’s food supply, Marler said.

Earlier this year, U.S. lawmakers wrote to HHS and FDA officials expressing concern about plans to cut funding from those state and local programs, saying the decline in funding would undo years of progress toward establishing a truly integrated food-safety system.

Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.