"It's only a matter of time before people die": Trump cuts hit food inspections

"American inspections of foreign food facilities-which produce everything from crawfish to cookies for the US market-have plummeted to historic lows this year, a ProPublica analysis of federal data shows, even as inspections reveal alarming conditions at some manufacturers. About two dozen current and former Food and Drug Administration officials blame the pullback on deep staffing cuts under the Trump administration."

"The stakes are high: Foreign products have been increasingly linked to outbreaks of foodborne illness. In recent years, FDA investigators have uncovered disturbing lapses in facilities producing food bound for American supermarkets. In Indonesia, cookie factory workers hauled dough in soiled buckets. In China, seafood processors slid crawfish along cracked, stained conveyor belts. Investigators have reported crawling insects, dripping pipes, and fake testing data purporting to show food products were pathogen free."

"In 2011, Congress-concerned about the different standards of overseas food operations-gave the FDA new authority to hold foreign food producers to the same safety standards as domestic ones. Although the agency's small team remained unable to visit every overseas facility, inspections rose sharply after the mandate-sometimes doubling or tripling previous rates. Now, the US is on track to have the fewest inspections on record since 2011, except during the global pandemic."

Inspections of foreign food facilities supplying the U.S. have fallen to historic lows this year, even as some overseas plants show alarming sanitary lapses. Foreign food supplies account for the vast majority of the nation’s seafood and more than half of fresh fruit. About two dozen current and former FDA officials attribute the pullback to deep staffing cuts under the Trump administration, including a 65 percent reduction in divisions coordinating travel and budgets. Inspections had risen after a 2011 law granted the FDA greater authority, but the U.S. is now on track for the fewest inspections since that mandate, aside from the pandemic period.

Read at Ars Technica