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Last updated:
November 13, 2025
Issue status:
Endangered

Food Safety

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DateWhat happened?
Jan 20, 2025Trump announces a 90-day hiring freeze affecting almost all federal civilian positions, including those related to food safety. In the memo announcing the freeze, he orders the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to submit a plan for reducing the size of the federal workforce.
Jan 21, 2025The Trump administration places a pause on external communications from federal health agencies — including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — providing little guidance about its scope or duration. A follow-up memo (PDF) later clarifies that the pause will last until February 1, 2025, and that all exceptions must be reviewed by a presidential appointee.
Jan 23, 2025Staffers at the Human Foods Program, the food safety division of the FDA, learn that their government-issued credit cards are being frozen, preventing them from purchasing food samples from grocery stores for testing.
Jan 27, 2025US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Inspector General Phyllis Fong is fired as part of a purge of 17 inspectors general, who provide oversight for government agencies. At the time of her firing, Fong’s office is investigating Elon Musk’s company Neuralink for its animal testing practices; her office had also investigated a listeria outbreak in a Boar’s Head meatpacking plant.
Feb 4, 2025NBC News reports that most external communications at federal health agencies remain suspended, even though their suspension was supposed to end on February 1.
Feb 11, 2025Trump signs EO 14210: “Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Workforce Optimization Initiative,” which requires that all federal agencies — including those responsible for food safety — develop a plan to reduce their staff size through large-scale job cuts. The order also requires that agencies hire only one employee for every four that depart.
Feb 11, 2025The FDA closes an investigation of a fatal E. coli outbreak in lettuce without naming the responsible companies, prompting concern from food safety advocates and former federal officials.
Feb 12, 2025The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), which represents employees at the FDA and USDA, sues to block mass firings and attempts to pressure employees to resign (NTEU v. Donald Trump I).
Feb 12, 2025Along with seven other fired inspectors general, former USDA Inspector General Phyllis Fong sues the Trump administration for reinstatement (Storch v. Hegseth).
Feb 13, 2025Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is confirmed as US Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). Kennedy, who has been criticized by experts and public health officials for purveying health misinformation about topics including food safety, had previously called for gutting “entire departments” at the HHS.
Feb 15, 2025As part of a weekend of mass firings, FDA employees receive uniformly worded emails telling them they are dismissed. By the end of the weekend, about 700 have been fired, including many working on food safety.
Feb 17, 2025After his division loses 89 employees in the week’s mass firings, Jim Jones, head of the FDA’s Human Food Program, resigns. He says in his resignation letter that it would be “fruitless” for him to continue in his role given the Trump administration’s “disdain” for food safety and nutrition workers.
Feb 19, 2025A group of labor and nonprofit organizations files a lawsuit against the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM), asking the court to halt mass terminations of probationary employees, including at the FDA and the USDA (AFGE v. OPM).
Feb 20, 2025Federal judge Christopher R. Cooper rules against the NTEU — the union representing FDA, USDA, and other federal employees — in its suit to stop job cuts, allowing the Trump administration to proceed with firing thousands of government workers. The judge suggests that disputes should first go to the Federal Labor Relations Authority (NTEU v. Donald Trump I).
Feb 24, 2025The FDA lists Kyle Diamantas as the new head of the Human Foods Program following Jim Jones’s resignation. In his prior career as a corporate lawyer, Diamantas represented Abbott Laboratories after the company failed to warn parents that its formula for premature babies increased risk for a life-threatening bowel disease.
Feb 28, 2025Food Fix reports that during mass firings of probationary employees the Trump administration fired — and then rehired — the head of an FDA office that monitors the safety and supply of infant formula.
Mar 6, 2025Twenty states led by Maryland sue to stop the mass firings of probationary employees at the USDA, the FDA, and other federal agencies, arguing the move violates the Administrative Procedure Act (Maryland v. USDA).
Mar 6, 2025The USDA disbands two uncompensated advisory committees on food safety, the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods and the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection.
Mar 10, 2025Robert F. Kennedy Jr. directs the FDA commissioner to explore closing a loophole allowing companies to declare new food additives safe without FDA approval. In prior weeks, experts and former FDA staff expressed skepticism that the agency would be able to address the problem with a diminished workforce.
Mar 13, 2025Federal judge William Alsup orders that 24,000 fired probationary employees be reinstated, saying, “It’s a sad, sad day when our government would fire a good employee and say it’s based on performance when they know good and well that is based on a lie” (Maryland v. USDA).
Mar 17, 2025Following a Trump policy change reversing a decade of flexible telework policies, FDA staff return to the office. They are greeted by chaotic conditions including hourlong lines at security checkpoints, overflowing parking lots, and a chair shortage.
Mar 17, 2025The USDA extends waivers granted by the Biden administration allowing some meatpacking plants to increase their line speeds, with intentions to permanently allow faster speeds. When line speeds are faster, worker injury and food contamination risks are increased, yet it becomes harder for inspectors to monitor food safety.
Mar 18, 2025The FDA announces Operation Stork Speed, focused on making infant formula safer and more available. Multiple experts observe that the initiative’s stated goals are undermined by layoffs and resignations of staff in the FDA’s Human Foods Program, which oversees infant formula safety.
Mar 20, 2025The FDA announces it will delay compliance of the Food Traceability Rule, which aims to enable faster tracing of foodborne illness outbreaks through better recordkeeping. Industry trade groups had included weakening of food traceability requirements in a “deregulatory wish list” sent to Trump in December 2024.
Mar 25, 2025Martin Makary is confirmed as FDA commissioner. Makary, who in 2020 expressed COVID-19 views contrary to medical science, had expressed support for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s appointment as head of the HHS. During his confirmation hearing, Makary identified investigating food additives as a priority in food policy.
Mar 27, 2025The Trump administration announces plans to lay off 10,000 employees at HHS, including 3,500 at the FDA (about 20% of its workforce) and hundreds at the CDC working on food safety. Cut positions include those of scientists testing food for contamination, administrators supporting overseas inspections, and staff managing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
Mar 27, 2025Federal judge Ana Reyes states that while the termination of eight inspectors general who sued the Trump administration for reinstatement, including USDA Inspector General Phyllis Fong, was probably unlawful, she does not see a way to reinstate them (Storch v. Hegseth).
Mar 27, 2025Trump signs EO 14251: “Exclusions From Federal Labor-Management Relations Programs,” which excludes thousands of federal civilian employees from collective bargaining on the grounds that their work’s primary function is “intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security.” The order applies to unions representing CDC, FDA, and USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) employees.
Apr 1, 2025Months after the January 2025 pause on external communications from health agencies, STAT reports ongoing dire challenges to external communications at the CDC and the FDA. Employees share stories of drastic cuts to communication roles and HHS staff altering language already approved by FDA scientists.
Apr 3, 2025The FDA suspends a program to ensure accuracy of tests for bird flu in dairy products because of staffing shortages caused by layoffs.
Apr 3, 2025A group of unions led by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) sues the administration over the executive order that attempted to strip collective bargaining rights from thousands of federal employees (AFGE, AFL-CIO v. Trump I).
Apr 4, 2025A watchdog organization, Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington (CREW), sues the CDC following the firing of staff handling FOIA requests at the agency (CREW v. CDC).
Apr 8, 2025Three members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform send a letter to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. expressing concern about the ability of the FDA to maintain the safety of US food after mass layoffs at the agency.
Apr 8, 2025Some employees at the FDA are allowed to return to remote work after a March 2025 order requiring in-person work causes overcrowding.
Apr 8, 2025Without ruling on whether the firings are legal, the Supreme Court allows the administration to proceed with firing 16,000 federal workers, saying the nonprofit groups suing to prevent the firings do not have standing to do so (AFGE v. OPM).
Apr 9, 2025The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals pauses federal judge James K. Bredar’s order blocking firings of federal workers, saying that he lacks jurisdiction (Maryland v. USDA).
Apr 11, 2025The FDA is reported to be finalizing plans to hire contractors to replace more than 50 laid-off employees who handled travel logistics for international inspections.
Apr 15, 2025Because of staff cuts, the FDA suspends a program to ensure the accuracy of tests for multiple contaminants, including Cyclospora in spinach and glyphosate in barley.
Apr 17, 2025Trump extends the federal hiring freeze until July 15, 2025. The memo extending the freeze also declares that, when it expires, agencies will only be able to hire one new employee for every four who depart, with narrow exceptions.
Apr 21, 2025The FDA suspends a program to ensure the accuracy of tests for pathogens in milk. While an HHS official says this particular program was suspended because of a transition to a new laboratory, internal emails about similar programs indicate that the suspension may have been related to staff cuts.
Apr 24, 2025Representative Gerry Connolly (D-VA) sends a letter expressing concern about layoffs of 22 employees handling FOIA requests at the CDC.
Apr 24, 2025Employees at a Justice Department unit for investigation of food and drug safety cases are informed the unit will be disbanded by September. The unit investigates distribution of adulterated and misbranded food and drugs.
Apr 24, 2025The USDA withdraws a rule proposed during the Biden administration to reduce levels of salmonella in poultry.
Apr 24, 2025Trump signs EO 14284: “Strengthening Probationary Periods in the Federal Service,” which orders that probationary federal employees be automatically terminated at the end of their probation unless their agency takes action to retain them.
Apr 25, 2025Some laid-off scientists at food safety labs in San Francisco and Chicago are offered their jobs back following the FDA commissioner’s false claims that no FDA scientists had been laid off.
Apr 25, 2025Federal judge Paul Friedman temporarily blocks the administration from canceling collective bargaining for thousands of federal civilian employees, including workers at the CDC, FDA, and USDA FSIS (NTEU v. Trump II).
Apr 28, 2025A coalition of labor organizations, nonprofits, and local governments sues the administration, claiming that large-scale layoffs are unconstitutional and unlawful (AFGE, AFL-CIO v. Trump II).
May 1, 2025The FDA rescinds the layoffs of some FOIA workers. Despite earlier promises by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to rehire all fired FOIA workers across HHS, the CDC’s FOIA positions have not been restored.
May 1, 2025The AP reports that the FDA plans to reinstate more than 20 of the laid-off staff members responsible for booking travel for food inspectors.
May 1, 2025The Trump administration cancels a bargaining session with the FDA’s largest worker’s union. The union was set to discuss severance pay for laid-off workers.
May 2, 2025The Trump administration sends a 2026 discretionary budget proposal outline to Congress. While the proposal slashes the budget for the USDA, it includes a slight increase for the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS). The proposal (PDF) also slashes HHS funding but does not include details about the FDA.
May 5, 2025A top official overseeing food and drug inspections at the FDA, Michael Rogers, retires abruptly, reportedly due to frustrations with FDA Commissioner Martin Makary’s leadership and staff cuts.
May 5, 2025Twenty states file a lawsuit challenging a directive from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to fire thousands of HHS workers — including FDA and CDC employees working on food safety — and abruptly collapse 28 agencies at HHS into 15 (New York v. Kennedy).
May 6, 2025The FDA announces plans to increase unannounced inspections of overseas food facilities. Longstanding challenges with inspector staffing, exacerbated by recent resignations, call into question whether the FDA will have the resources to implement the plan.
May 15, 2025The FDA announces plans to create a systematic review process for chemicals in foods already on the market.
May 21, 2025NPR reports that external communications from the CDC, which used to be managed internally, now require centralized review by HHS, which often rejects content or delays its publication. As a result of the new policy, the CDC’s Health Alert Network newsletter failed to notify health officials about outbreaks of salmonella and listeria.
May 22, 2025FDA Commissioner Martin Makary says that the Trump administration is proposing a $6.8 billion discretionary budget for the FDA for 2026, cut from $7.2 billion in 2025.
May 22, 2025Federal judge Susan Illston temporarily blocks the Trump administration’s mass layoffs and reorganizations across 22 federal departments and agencies, including HHS and the USDA (AFGE, AFL-CIO v. Trump II).
May 27, 2025An administrative judge from the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), a panel that evaluates federal employees’ challenges to firings, rules that probationary employees can pursue reinstatement in a class action lawsuit, opening a potential path for fired probationary employees to be reinstated (DHS Probationary Employees v. DHS, OPM).
May 30, 2025The Trump administration releases more details about its 2026 CDC budget request. While the request would slash the CDC budget, it maintains (PDF) food safety funding at the same level as 2025, $72 million.
Jun 3, 2025A group of terminated HHS employees, including some from the FDA, files a class-action lawsuit seeking damages over their dismissals (Jackson v. Kennedy).
Jun 4, 2025House Republicans release their discretionary budget bill for federal agriculture spending, including at the FDA and USDA. Per the Trump administration’s request, the bill proposes a $400 million cut to the FDA’s budget, reducing employee salaries and funding for grant programs.
Jun 6, 2025As staff shortages jeopardize services, the federal government is reported to be “scrambling” to rehire workers previously forced out or encouraged to resign, including at least one USDA safety inspector and multiple FDA employees.
Jun 9, 2025In response to Trump’s executive order attempting to strip collective bargaining rights from many federal employees, the FDA announces they will no longer engage in labor relations with federal unions, including collective bargaining, grievance procedures, and arbitration.
Jun 11, 2025After being placed on administrative leave in April 2025 and told they would be laid off, all staffers at the CDC Division for Environmental Health Science and Practice are reinstated. The team plays a pivotal role in assisting states with outbreak investigations, such as in a 2023 outbreak of lead poisoning from applesauce packets.
Jun 11, 2025FDA Commissioner Martin Makary sends an email to FDA staffers announcing tentative plans for additional consolidation, raising the possibility of more job cuts.
Jun 23, 2025The House Appropriations Committee advances its discretionary budget bill that would cut FDA funding by $400 million.
Jun 24, 2025Federal judge James Donato temporarily blocks the Trump administration from ending collective bargaining rights for unions in 21 agencies in a suit brought by a group of unions (AFGE, AFL-CIO v. Trump I).
Jul 1, 2025The CDC reduces the number of pathogens tracked by its main foodborne illness surveillance program, FoodNet, from eight to just two. An expert identifies cuts to federal funding for state health departments as a likely reason for the reduction.
Jul 1, 2025Federal judge Melissa R. DuBose temporarily blocks HHS from implementing a planned reorganization and massive reduction in its workforce (New York v. Kennedy).
Jul 3, 2025Justin Ransom is appointed administrator of the USDA FSIS. Before his appointment, Ransom was an executive at Tyson, the largest meat producer in the US.
Jul 6, 2025Food & Wine reports that FDA has introduced an internal large language model-powered tool to support decision-making about food labeling, recalls, and inspections. Staffers complain that the tool provides inaccurate information.
Jul 7, 2025Trump again extends the federal hiring freeze, until October 15, 2025.
Jul 8, 2025In an unsigned emergency opinion (PDF), the Supreme Court lifts federal judge Susan Illston’s preliminary injunction against mass federal layoffs and reorganizations, clearing the way for them to proceed (AFGE, AFL-CIO v. Trump II).
Jul 9, 2025Federal judge Susan Illston orders the government to release its agency reorganization plans (AFGE, AFL-CIO v. Trump II).
Jul 10, 2025The Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously advances an agriculture discretionary spending bill that would fund the FDA at $7 billion, $200 million more than the House bill.
Jul 14, 2025HHS fires thousands of employees, asserting that the July 8 Supreme Court decision allows the department to proceed with “a portion” of its planned reorganization and layoffs.
Jul 18. 2025USDA officials end the forced suspension of a Boar’s Head plant that was the site of a deadly listeria outbreak, despite “a pattern of negligence” at Boar’s Head plants. The USDA’s handling of the outbreak had been the subject of an investigation from the Inspector General of the USDA, who was fired by the Trump administration in January.
Jul 23, 2025The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals blocks federal judge Susan Illston’s order that federal agencies release their reorganization plans before moving forward with layoffs. This permits agencies to lay off employees without sharing information about the cuts (AFGE, AFL-CIO v. Trump II).
Jul 24, 2025The USDA announces a plan to relocate 2,600 of its DC employees to five field offices across the country. A union representing USDA employees criticizes the relocations as designed to force employee resignations.
Jul 29, 2025The AFL-CIO files another lawsuit against the administration’s efforts to strip federal employees’ collective bargaining rights (AFL-CIO v. Trump).
Aug 1, 2025The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issues a stay to federal judge James Donato’s order in the AFGE’s case challenging the administration’s effort to strip federal employees of bargaining rights, allowing the administration to proceed (AFGE, AFL-CIO v. Trump I).
Aug 1, 2025After facing bipartisan pressure to alter its plan to relocate 2,600 DC-based staff members, the USDA announces a month-long public comment period.
Aug 7, 2025House Democrats send the first of two letters to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins expressing concern about potential staff attrition resulting from the agency’s relocation plan and requesting further information.
Aug 12, 2025The Trump administration cancels workers’ union contracts at the USDA FSIS.
Aug 19, 2025The USDA proposes a rule to end mandatory incision of the lymph nodes of swine carcasses by FSIS inspectors. Sectioning the lymph nodes allows inspectors to identify signs of tuberculosis (PDF).
Aug 21, 2025USDA officials tell the AP that federal inspectors will directly oversee the reopening of a Jarratt, VA, Boar’s Head plant that was the site of a deadly listeria outbreak. Previously, state inspectors had conducted oversight on behalf of the USDA.
Aug 27, 2025CDC Director Susan Monarez is fired after resisting pressure from the Trump administration to resign. In response, Daniel Jernigan, a high-ranking CDC official whose responsibilities included leading foodborne illness surveillance, resigns his position.
Sep 2, 2025The Fence Post reports that amid continuing backlash to the USDA’s plan to relocate 2,600 DC-based staff members, the plan’s comment period has been extended by a month, to September 30, 2025.
Sep 4, 2025As part of the Trump administration’s spring 2025 regulatory agenda, the FDA proposes a rule requiring companies to submit data and documentation when they declare a chemical “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS). This rule would close a decades-old loophole allowing companies to introduce new chemicals to market without FDA notification.
Sep 9, 2025The MAHA Commission Strategy is released by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in a press conference. The report is criticized by experts for taking a deregulatory approach toward most food safety issues and lacking a clear plan for implementing the new strategy.
Sep 15, 2025Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) sends a letter asking Boar’s Head officials to speak to the Congressional Food Safety Caucus about the reopening of its Jarratt, VA, plant following a deadly listeria outbreak despite a continuing pattern of safety violations reported by AP.
Oct 1, 2025A government shutdown begins after Republicans and Democrats fail to reach an agreement on continued funding for federal programs and services. The HHS shutdown plan keeps 86% of FDA staff working, including 19% working for no pay, and reduces food safety activities to emergency response and surveillance. The shutdowns limit FDA inspections, but USDA inspections continue.
Oct 24, 2025The FDA fails to compensate, or only partially pays, some employees who work during the shutdown after a software bug in the FDA’s payroll system mistakenly labels them as furloughed.
Nov 6, 2025An analysis by ProPublica shows that FDA inspections of international food facilities — which were already 90% behind Congressionally mandated targets at the beginning of 2025 — have dropped to their lowest point since 2011 (excepting 2020-2022, when inspections were hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic). This follows Trump administration promises to increase logistically challenging unannounced international food facility inspections.
Nov 12, 2025President Trump signs a bill to fund the federal government, ending the 43 day shutdown. The bill also reverses layoffs of federal workers made during the shutdown and ensures backpay for those who were furloughed.

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