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FDA to stop routine food inspections? [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-04-18
This is a preliminary story, but already carried by CBS, so needs to be on our radar:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fda-food-safety-inspections-plans/ HealthWatch FDA making plans to end its routine food safety inspections, source The Food and Drug Administration is drawing up plans that would end most of its routine food safety inspections work, multiple federal health officials tell CBS News, and effectively outsource this oversight to state and local authorities. The plans have not been finalized and might need congressional action to fully fund, said the officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly.
CBS is already sane-washing this story — Rump Regime will NOT wait, if they want to do this! Of course the FDA spokesperson denies it. Story continues:
..Some FDA employees have been working on a possible shift of the agency's routine food efforts to states for years, one current and one former officials aid, which could free up resources to focus on higher priority and foreign inspections. The FDA already outsources some routine food inspections through contracts with 43 states and Puerto Rico.
The idea of properly staffing it doesn’t occur, apparently.
..The FDA is ultimately responsible for the safety of much of the U.S. food supply that's distributed over state lines, like packaged products, seafood,eggs and produce. Some kinds of meat are regulated by a different agency inside the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Some higher-risk routine food inspections would likely remain at the FDA under the plans, two officials said. For example, agency staff currently conduct annual visits to infant formula manufacturers, which are overseen separately as "critical foods" inspections. States would also not be able to take on the work of routine inspections in foreign food facilities.
So, part of the plan seems somewhat sane, but in the hands of this Administration… I’m not confident.
..Mandernach drew a parallel to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, under which hospitals and nursing homes are largely inspected by state agencies but overseen by the federal government. He also pointed to how the FDA regulates produce farms. The FDA has agreements with most states to pay for routine inspections conducted by local agriculture departments, where they often handle inspections and enforcement themselves. ...Steep layoffs at the office's support staff is expected to result in cutbacks to the number of inspections that can be done by the agency, CBS News previously reported.FDA Commissioner Marty Makary has also greenlighted plans to hire contractors to attempt to plug the hole left by the laid-off workers.
So… once again, an attempt to privatize. We’d better watch who gets these contracts. And I’m not the only one worried:
Gremillion [Director of food policy at the Consumer Federation of America] cautioned that a transition in how food inspections are done by the FDA would take significant time and resources. "So far, this Administration has acted with reckless disregard for how its policies will affect the detection and prevention of foodborne illness, and any plans to replace federal food inspectors with some other workforce deserves suspicion," he said.
I second that!
I’ll be away for a while, but will check the story for updates later.
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