The FDA is drawing up plans that would end most of its routine food safety inspections work, multiple federal health officials told 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. CBS appears to be the only source of this story.
FDA did provide the TV network a rebuttal comment: “The claim that the FDA is suspending routine food safety inspections is false,” an FDA spokesperson told the network. “FDA is actively working to ensure continuity of operations during the reorganization period and remains committed to ensuring critical programs and inspections continue.”
That mention of a “reorganization period” comes after hundreds of layoffs at the agency, part of the Trump administration’s work to slash the size of the federal workforce.
CBS also cited one current and one former FDA official said who said the agency has been working on a possible shift of the agency’s routine food efforts to states for years, 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.
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