US FDA suspends food safety quality checks after staff cuts

By Leah Douglas

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Food and Drug Administration is suspending a quality control program for its food testing laboratories as a result of staff cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services, according to an internal email seen by Reuters.

The proficiency testing program of the FDA’s Food Emergency Response Network is designed to ensure consistency and accuracy across the agency’s network of about 170 labs that test food for pathogens and contaminants to prevent food-borne illness.

The firing and departure of as many as 20,000 HHS employees have upended public health research and disrupted the agency’s work on areas like bird flu and drug reviews. President Donald Trump hopes to slash as much as $40 billion from HHS.

“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,” says the email sent on Tuesday from FERN’s National Program Office and seen by Reuters.

The program will be suspended at least through September 30 and means the agency will be unable to do planned quality control work around lab testing for the parasite Cyclospora in spinach or the pesticide glyphosate in barley, among other tests, the email says.

“These PTs and Exercises are critical to demonstrating the competency and readiness of our laboratory network to detect and respond to food safety and food defense events,” the email says.

HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Food safety laboratories rely on these types of tests to meet standards for accreditation, said a source familiar with the situation, who was not aware of other ready alternatives to the FDA to provide such testing.

The FDA in early April suspended an effort to improve its testing for bird flu in milk, cheese and pet food, as a result of staff cuts.

(Reporting by Leah Douglas; Editing by Sandra Maler)