Food Safety

What do I need to know about food safety?

Food safety is the set of practices that ensure that our food doesn’t make us sick or kill us. To be safe, our food must not contain viruses, bacteria, or other pathogens¹ that cause illness (like Salmonella and E. coli), must not contain dangerous levels of contaminants like heavy metals² or harmful chemicals,³ and must be labeled to indicate the presence of common allergens.⁴

The US food safety system is both complex and largely successful in maintaining a safe food supply: According to the widely used Global Food Security Index (GFSI),⁵ the US ranks third in the world in food quality and safety (far higher than its rankings for affordability and availability). The FDA emphasizes that this relative success is the result of the government’s proactive approach to food safety.⁶ Nevertheless, Biden-era changes had already weakened⁷ some parts of the US food safety system. Like other aspects of public health⁸ work—which, as a whole, receives about 3%⁹ of the US’s healthcare spending—food safety has struggled with chronic underfunding.¹⁰

Foodborne illnesses in particular remain a persistent public health challenge. A June report from the HHS Office of Inspector General (PDF)¹¹ estimates that each year, foodborne pathogens cause 48 million illnesses in the US, resulting in more than 100,000 hospital admissions—but only approximately 3,000 resulting deaths. In recent years, foodborne illness seems to be increasing: In 2024, reports of confirmed severe illness and death from contaminated food doubled¹² from the previous year.

In short, the system as it stood on January 19, 2025, was already strained but mostly working.

Some historical context: The vast systems that ensure the safety of US food arose from previously common food safety threats.¹³ Before 1906, when the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Federal Meat Inspection Act passed into law, there was no federal legislation addressing food safety. While some state governments had laws on the books, others had none. As a result, consumers who bought packaged food from shops and street peddlers¹⁴ could expect to find contaminants¹⁵ like gypsum in their flour, milk preserved with borax, coffee blackened with lead, and “pepper dust” made of actual dust.

In the 21st century, regulation protects us from hazards like these. Expanding on the legacy of those initial pieces of legislation, the federal government is now in charge of coordinating prevention of food hazards, containing outbreaks, and guiding the country’s future food safety initiatives. State and local systems have developed as well: Some activities, like restaurant inspections, are carried out entirely by local governments,¹⁶ and the federal government also partners with state and local officials¹⁷ to carry out many of its food safety efforts.¹⁸ On this page, we focus on the federal government’s role in ensuring food safety.

How does the federal government affect food safety in the US?

Most of the federal government’s proactive food safety work is split across two agencies:¹⁹ The USDA oversees meat and poultry,²⁰ and the FDA oversees the safety of all other food.²¹ When things go wrong, the CDC also plays a vital role²² alongside the FDA and USDA in tracking and responding to foodborne illness.

The federal government:

• Sets food safety rules and guidelines: Federal agencies create rules²³ to ensure that food²⁴ is produced and distributed²⁵ safely. They also issue guidelines for consumers²⁶ and food establishments about how to prepare food safely.²⁷
• Inspects food production sites: Federal investigators at the FDA²⁸ and the USDA’s²⁹ Food Safety and Inspection Service³⁰ inspect both domestic and international food facilities (any site that manufactures, packages, or holds food) and commercial slaughtering plants for violations, like unsanitary conditions. When investigators find violations, they issue instructions to facilities to become compliant and, if necessary, enforce³¹ the rules³² through actions like injunctions to stop production.
• Monitors for illness and responds to outbreaks: The government monitors for foodborne³³ illnesses³⁴ (like E. coli³⁵ infections), mislabeled food (like undeclared allergens),³⁶ and chemical contamination (like heavy metals).³⁷ When there is a problem, federal officials at the CDC,³⁸ FDA,³⁹ and USDA⁴⁰ find the source, contain the situation, issue recalls,⁴¹ and communicate with consumers.
• Conducts research to improve food safety: Federal scientists at the FDA⁴² and⁴³ USDA⁴⁴ research food safety in the US and ways to improve it. For instance, government researchers investigate methods to kill pathogens in food,⁴⁵ explore the sources of food contamination,⁴⁶ and estimate the incidence and mortality of foodborne illness.⁴⁷

Note: Food safety is distinct from “food security,”⁴⁸ which addresses access to food (for instance by ensuring food is affordable and that there are no national shortages). Food safety is also distinct from “food quality,”⁴⁹ which deals with nutrition, taste, and marketability.

The Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again campaign and associated policy efforts⁵⁰ mix food quality and safety concerns to argue that America’s food is “poisoning”⁵¹ Americans.

At the same time that they make these claims, though, the Trump administration has fired workers, stripped away rules, and removed oversight that has kept food from poisoning Americans for a century. Our goal here is to break down those changes to the food safety system and keep you informed of their ongoing effects.

What is happening?

The Trump administration is using the power of the executive branch to:

• Fire and push out CDC, FDA, and USDA workers who keep the US food supply safe. More on this
• Eliminate, delay, or downgrade rules designed to reduce foodborne illnesses and make it easier to trace outbreaks. More on this
• Decrease oversight of the government’s food safety efforts; reduce transparency about outbreaks, investigations, and food safety science; and diminish enforcement against companies who break food safety rules. More on this

We’ll explain each line of attack, along with the countermoves and resilience efforts we’re seeing across American society.

Attack: Firing and pushing out crucial food safety workers

Last updated: July 10, 2025

Since February, the Trump administration has fired food safety workers across the federal government in a series of mass layoffs. Through two executive⁵² orders,⁵³ they directed cabinet-level agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct cost-cutting layoffs with the guidance of the DOGE initiative.⁵⁴ The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) houses both the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The administration has not made the total number of fired workers or their various job titles public, but media reports, piecemeal announcements, and court filings let us assemble a picture of the damage:

• In February, hundreds of probationary (new or newly-promoted) FDA staffers were laid off,⁵⁵ including 89 workers⁵⁶ at the new Human Foods Program,⁵⁷ which oversees all the FDA’s food safety activities.
• At the end of March, a 10,000-employee layoff at HHS⁵⁸ cut a further 3,500 FDA employees.⁵⁹ Fired workers included lab scientists, Human Foods Program workers, communications staff,⁶⁰ and more.
• In the same March round of layoffs, hundreds of CDC employees working on food safety⁶¹ were also fired amid overall cuts of 2,400 CDC workers.⁶² Fired employees included instrumental players⁶³ in the containment of a 2023 outbreak of lead poisoning⁶⁴ from applesauce packets.

Thousands of workers in food safety–related agencies have also taken early retirement offers:

• By early May 2025, 15,000 USDA employees⁶⁵—about 15% of the USDA workforce—had taken resignation offers. More than 550 workers resigned⁶⁶ at the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), which handles meat inspections and responds to outbreaks of illnesses including bird flu.
• As of late May 2025, 1,200 FDA workers⁶⁷ had taken early retirement offers.

Crucial leaders at the FDA have also left the agency: The Human Food Program’s director, Jim Jones, resigned in protest⁶⁸ over firings he called “indiscriminate.” Michael Rogers, a top official overseeing food safety and drug inspections⁶⁹ at the FDA, retired abruptly in early May, reportedly due to frustrations with the new leadership.

The complexity of US food safety systems can make it difficult to understand how actions like mass layoffs cascade across agency functions to compromise the safety of the food supply. The layoffs have already had clear negative effects, including:

• Fewer FDA inspections: The FDA’s routine inspection of facilities helps prevent outbreaks before they occur. The FDA had fallen behind its yearly inspection targets⁷⁰ before the layoffs because of a staffing shortage.⁷¹ Together, early retirements, resignations, and the Trump administration hiring freeze have compounded the problem, with 20% of inspector positions⁷² now vacant, doubling to 40% for inspectors of high-risk foods such as infant formula. On top of these staffing shortages, layoffs of crucial support staff could also force the FDA to reduce its routine inspections.⁷³ As one employee explained,⁷⁴ “we are keeping inspectors but not the people who test the samples.”
• Reduced quality control for food safety tests: As a result of the layoffs of lab scientists,⁷⁵ the FDA agency suspended three⁷⁶ quality⁷⁷ control⁷⁸ programs ensuring the reliability⁷⁹ of tests in its network of laboratories. These tests monitor for contaminants like bird flu, Cyclospora, and glyphosate, a pesticide.
• Less support for state food safety teams dealing with outbreaks: Nearly all⁸⁰ of the CDC’s Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice was laid off in March. This team provided support to understaffed state health teams while they investigated active outbreaks.
• Reduced ability to keep foreign outbreaks from spreading to the US: The layoffs decimated⁸¹ an office at the FDA that worked to prevent foodborne illness outbreaks abroad from spreading to the United States. A former official noted⁸² that the cuts had dire consequences for international coordination: “If Canada has a big outbreak, will they notify FDA and share that information? And if so, who would they even notify?”
• Diminished ability to carry out the administration’s promised food safety improvements: HHS announced an effort called Operation Stork Speed⁸³ to ensure the safety of infant formula, in an apparent response⁸⁴ to a Consumer Reports investigation⁸⁵ revealing lead and arsenic contamination in baby formula. But layoffs have included experts in infant formula safety.⁸⁶ Similarly HHS has proposed closing a loophole⁸⁷ that allows companies to declare new food additives as safe without FDA notification or review. The loophole arose precisely because⁸⁸ the FDA did not have enough staffers or resources to run a thorough premarket review program. Finally, as one food safety scientist notes,⁸⁹ since many of the regulators with the scientific expertise to design evidence-grounded policy have been fired, new regulations may address misguided priorities.

So far, despite a hefty dose of rhetoric endorsing unsafe⁹⁰ food practices,⁹¹ the Trump administration has not made fundamental challenges to the basic responsibilities of the FDA and USDA. For instance, they have not directly challenged the responsibility of these agencies to recall foods, inspect food facilities, test for pathogens, or investigate outbreaks, and these activities are⁹² all⁹³ still⁹⁴ happening.⁹⁵ But as the above examples demonstrate, the layoffs make it difficult for an already-strained system to fulfill these basic responsibilities, which experts warn⁹⁶ will accumulate to large effects on the safety of the US food supply in the long term.

Where this stands

A lawsuit seeking to block the majority of the administration’s mass layoffs⁹⁷ temporarily halted layoffs while the case proceeded. On July 8, 2025, the Supreme Court stayed this ruling,⁹⁸ permitting mass layoffs to proceed without Congressional oversight.

Earlier, many fired probationary workers across the federal government were rehired under court orders, and then refired⁹⁹ after the Supreme Court¹⁰⁰ and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals¹⁰¹ paused reinstatements. Meanwhile, a Merit Systems Protection Board administrative judge ruled in May¹⁰² that probationary employees can pursue reinstatement in a class action, so we expect to see further litigation in this area.

Some fired employees at the CDC, FDA, and USDA have been asked to return to their jobs. Some fired workers who focused on chemical contamination and infant formula have been rehired.¹⁰³ Lab scientists in San Francisco and Chicago have been reinstated.¹⁰⁴ Staffers who book inspection trips have also been asked back,¹⁰⁵ after reports that the FDA was expediting hiring¹⁰⁶ of contractors to make up the work. And in June, all CDC workers in the Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice¹⁰⁷ were reinstated. As with other reinstatements, it’s unclear how many rehired workers actually returned.

The FDA Commissioner has claimed¹⁰⁸ that they will conduct new hiring to replace any scientific reviewers or inspectors that took early retirement offers, but it’s not clear how this will work, given the federal hiring freeze and requirement that federal agencies get rid of four workers for each new hire¹⁰⁹ after the freeze ends.

More jobs may be cut. In early June, FDA commissioner Martin Makary sent an email¹¹⁰ to employees stating that the agency may conduct further cuts to “eliminate duplicative services.” At USDA, more cuts are expected,¹¹¹ with a goal of 30,000 total resignations and firings across USDA programs.

Who will be affected?

Because teams that monitor safety threats in the food supply and respond to foodborne crises have been devastated by cuts, everyone who eats food in the US, whether it’s processed or purchased as whole ingredients, will be at greater risk of contracting foodborne illness or suffering from contamination. The cuts will will slow the work of identifying and responding to tainted food,¹¹² and chemicals and contaminants may not be detected before reaching the public supply.

Countermoves: Legislative & legal actions

• A coalition of labor unions, nonprofits, and local governments¹¹³ has sued to block the mass layoffs for all classes of federal workers, including probationary workers and the many non-probationary workers fired in later rounds of layoffs.
• Coalitions of labor unions and nonprofit organizations¹¹⁴ and the attorneys general of 21 US states¹¹⁵ (including DC) have brought suits over the firings of probationary workers.
• The Merit Systems Protection Board¹¹⁶ has ruled that probationary workers are able to bring class actions against their removals.
• Representative Gerald Connolly (D-VA) and two other members of the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform submitted a letter¹¹⁷ (PDF) to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. protesting cuts at the FDA that endanger the safety of the food supply and requesting more information on the layoffs. (Rep. Connolly died in office¹¹⁸ in May.)

Attack: Eliminating or delaying food safety regulations

Last updated: May 30, 2025

At the FDA and USDA, the Trump administration has changed, walked back, and postponed rules aimed at reducing the risk of foodborne illness.

The FDA has delayed¹¹⁹ a plan to finally enforce a data-reporting rule in the Food Safety Modernization Act—which was initially passed 15 years ago with bipartisan support.¹²⁰ The rule required that food producers report “traceability” data for select high-risk foods, to make outbreak investigations faster and easier.

At the USDA, two different rules governing the safety of meat and poultry, one on the books and one pending, are on the chopping block:

• The first rule limited “line speeds”¹²¹ in meat processing plants. This rule helped ensure the safety of the meat,¹²² prevented worker injury,¹²³ and reduced needless cruelty¹²⁴ to the animals. Now, in accordance with the meat industry’s preferences,¹²⁵ the USDA will extend waivers¹²⁶ that allow some plants to increase those speeds, with plans to formally remove the requirement entirely.
• Additionally, in April, the USDA withdrew a proposed rule¹²⁷ that would have made it illegal to sell dangerously Salmonella-contaminated poultry. Salmonella bacteria is a frequent cause of food poisoning, resulting in gastrointestinal distress, fever, and dehydration. The rule that the USDA withdrew had been three years¹²⁸ in the making and would have required companies to keep Salmonella levels under a certain threshold and test for the strains most associated with illness in people. If the bacteria levels were too high or any of the risky strains were present, the poultry would have been blocked from sale and subject to recall.¹²⁹

The Trump administration has also issued an executive order¹³⁰ that arbitrarily requires ten rules to be repealed for any one rule proposed. Any future regulation conducted by the FDA and USDA—such as the FDA’s proposed efforts to close a loophole¹³¹ in the food additive declaration¹³² process—will now necessitate the withdrawal of many existing rules.

Where this stands

The first time the Trump administration lifted line speed limits, it lost a union-filed suit.¹³³ It’s not clear whether the same thing will happen in this term, and we’ll update this page with litigation relevant to this and other regulatory rollbacks.

Who will be affected?

The administration’s postponement and walkbacks of rules reverse longstanding efforts to reduce illnesses in favor of changes that increase risk.

Food safety advocates have criticized¹³⁴ the salmonella rule’s withdrawal as foregoing an opportunity to reduce preventable illnesses and deaths from widespread contamination.¹³⁵ Similarly, the food traceability rule would have allowed for faster removal¹³⁶ of contaminated food from distribution, reducing the severity of outbreaks.

Meanwhile, faster line speeds at meatpacking plants may increase the spread of illness from Salmonella, E. coli, and other bacteria. When line speeds are faster,¹³⁷ it is harder for inspectors to keep up with sanitary violations, and it is more likely that the guts of animals will be ripped open, both of which increase risk of contamination.

While most people who get food poisoning ultimately recover, some get seriously ill and die; for instance, the CDC estimates¹³⁸ about 26,500 people in America are hospitalized and 420 people die from salmonella each year. The risk of hospitalization and death is highest in young children, older people, and people with weakened immune systems.

Attack: Reducing transparency, oversight, and enforcement

Last updated: May 30, 2025

On President Trump’s second day in office, the administration blocked the FDA and CDC¹³⁹ from communicating with the public without approval from an official appointed by President Trump. A memo from the Acting Health Secretary¹⁴⁰ set February 1 as the initial end date for the block and noted that agencies are also blocked from communicating in an official capacity with public officials, including governors and members of Congress. FDA communications remained shut down until the second week¹⁴¹ of February, and many CDC communications still appear to be blocked¹⁴² in late May. CDC workers also report that social media channels—one of the most direct forms of communication with the public—must be reviewed by HHS, who has taken over ownership of their accounts.

Layoffs at HHS have also specifically targeted the workers who report and explain food safety information to the media and the public. The former head of public engagement for the Human Foods Program, which oversees food safety for the FDA, has stated that the staff who would have handled communications¹⁴³ for outbreaks of foodborne illness—such as the undisclosed E. coli outbreak¹⁴⁴ in lettuce that killed one person and sickened at least 88—have been fired.

Teams who respond to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests have also been fired¹⁴⁵ at the CDC and FDA, along with media, communications, website, and social media workers in both agencies. A communication specialist fired from the FDA also reports that presidential appointees and their teams are altering language¹⁴⁶ in communications from FDA science teams.

At the same time as it has gutted outward communications, the Trump administration has eliminated key advisory and oversight roles related to food safety across the government. At the USDA, the administration fired and forcibly removed from her office¹⁴⁷ an Inspector General¹⁴⁸ responsible for oversight of the agency, who had launched an investigation¹⁴⁹ into the USDA’s botched handling of an outbreak of listeria¹⁵⁰ at a meatpacking plant. The administration also ended relationships with two unpaid expert committees¹⁵¹ that advised the CDC, FDA, and USDA on meat inspection and microbiological food safety.

At the Justice Department, the administration disbanded¹⁵² a 215-person team¹⁵³ that prosecuted companies that maintain insanitary facilities or distribute adulterated or mislabeled food or drugs.

Where this stands

After the FDA missed several court-ordered deadlines for producing records, some laid-off members of the team that previously responded to FOIA requests were rehired.¹⁵⁴ Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who leads the Department of Health and Human services, stated that he would restore all FOIA offices,¹⁵⁵ but we’ve been unable to find confirmation that the CDC’s FOIA staffers—or their other fired communications workers—have been brought back.

In February, eight fired inspectors general, including Phyllis Fong,¹⁵⁶ sued.¹⁵⁷ Two days later, a federal judge refused to temporarily reinstate¹⁵⁸ them, pointing out that Trump would immediately fire them again by providing 30 days notice to Congress in compliance with the law. In late March,¹⁵⁹ the judge indicated she did not see how she could reinstate them, though she acknowledged the firing had failed to comply with the relevant statute.

Who will be affected?

Without clear, public communication about outbreaks of foodborne illnesses, recalls, and food safety principles (like safe cooking temperatures and kitchen procedures), everyone in the US is more vulnerable to illness.

More narrowly, the reduction of transparency and oversight reduces accountability for agency actions: With few or no workers available to respond to FOIA requests at the CDC and FDA, journalists and members of the public will be significantly less able¹⁶⁰ to hold agencies and their leaders accountable for their policies and decisions. The firing of the Inspector General at the USDA has resulted in the loss of a watchdog who makes sure the agency is doing what needs to be done to keep US meat and poultry safe to eat. As a former director of the CDC’s Office of Communications warns,¹⁶¹ moves like these make corrupt actions from agency leaders easier to hide.

Losing enforcement teams focused on food safety at the Department of Justice is a blow against attempts to eliminate unsafe foods and ingredients—which, once again, could ultimately affect everyone.

Countermoves: Legal & legislative

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has filed a suit¹⁶² against the CDC over the destruction of its FOIA team.¹⁶³ You can track the progress of this suit in the Just Security Litigation Tracker.¹⁶⁴