First, it was Trader Joe’s tuna, then Lay’s potato chips, and a bunch of other recalls. And now, I’m hearing that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) might end its food safety inspections. Honestly, I don’t know how much worse this can get.
According to CBS News, federal health officials have confirmed that most of the food safety inspections currently done by the FDA are about to end. These plans aren’t set in stone yet and will likely need Senate approval, but it’s still pretty concerning.
So, what’s going on? Basically, routine safety inspections would shift from the feds to the states, meaning the states would handle inspections for products like milk and other foods. The good news is that high-risk foods, like infant formula, will still be federally regulated, according to CBS News.
It turns out that the states have already been doing some of this. A 2024 report from the Government Accountability Office found that about a third of food safety inspections are already handled by the states. Moving more regulation away from the federal government could save money and free up some resources.
“FDA audits have determined state inspections to be high quality, and the costs show them to be a good economic value,” Steve Mandernach, executive director of the Association of Food and Drug Officials, told CBS News in a statement. “There is significant cost to managing two systems also.”
While there might be some good things about moving more regulation to the states, a lot of us (raises hand) are pretty anxious about these changes. Especially with everything that’s been going on in the government. Not only have there been a lot of layoffs in the FDA and Health and Human Services Department, but quality control programs in the FDA have been paused. This move, according to Reuters, has led to serious delays in protecting people from things like Cyclospora in spinach or pesticides like glyphosate in barley.
Add in all the ongoing recalls, and yeah—it’s kind of scary when it comes to the safety of our food. Unfortunately, there’s not much we can do about it. All we can do is handle our food safely and stay on the lookout. For now, that’s the best we can do.
Mel Curry (she/her) is the current assistant editor at Cosmopolitan, where she covers everything from lifestyle to politics. You can often find her watching The Real Housewives of Atlanta or discovering local coffee roasters. Before joining Cosmo, she was an editorial assistant at Hearst Magazines, writing for Women’s Health, Elle, and more. Follow her on Instagram and the bird app aka Twitter.
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