One year after workforce cuts began, the evidence points to a food-safety system facing documented inspection and implementation problems—but it does not establish how much the cuts caused those problems. The clearest post-cut inspection figure is a reported decline in FDA inspections of foreign food sites; major gaps in domestic inspections were documented separately, before the cuts.
Is food safety worse after the FDA cuts?
The available evidence does not support a simple before-and-after verdict. It shows a system with longstanding inspection weaknesses, later workforce cuts, a reported decline in foreign inspections, and continuing work to implement food-safety requirements. It does not isolate the effect of the cuts on inspection rates, outbreak response, or illness.
The distinction matters because the baseline was already strained. In a 2025 report, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS OIG) found missed domestic inspection deadlines and delays in follow-up. That review does not attribute its findings to the 2025 cuts. Separately, Associated Press (AP) reporting in September 2026 said FDA conducted fewer foreign food inspections in fiscal year 2025 than in fiscal year 2024. That is evidence of a decline, but not proof that the cuts caused it.
The public-health stakes are substantial: HHS OIG reported in 2025 that foodborne diseases make roughly 48 million people in the United States sick each year, hospitalize 128,000, and cause 3,000 deaths. Those figures describe the overall burden, not an estimate of harm caused by the cuts.
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Did the FDA cut food inspectors?
Reports in February 2025 documented cuts affecting FDA staff, but the available accounts do not establish a complete, verified count of food-program job losses or show that a particular number of food inspectors were laid off.
- The Associated Press reported that probationary FDA employees responsible for reviewing the safety of food ingredients received termination notices. It said the total number of FDA positions eliminated was unclear.
- Axios reported that FDA Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods Jim Jones resigned and cited 89 staffers cut over a weekend. That was an attributed contemporaneous figure, not a verified total for all food-program staffing losses.
In its account of a 2026 cyclospora investigation, AP said the FDA inspectors involved were not among the 3,500 jobs targeted for termination. But AP also reported that more than half of the staff who handled travel bookings had been eliminated, leaving inspectors to arrange much of their own travel. This describes a reported logistical constraint; it does not establish that cuts caused a particular inspection delay.
Are FDA food inspections down?
Domestic and foreign inspections show different evidence and should not be treated as one comparable count. HHS OIG’s domestic findings are an audit of inspection practices and follow-up; the foreign figures below are AP’s reporting on FDA records and GAO findings.
| Inspection area | What the record says | What it does not establish |
|---|---|---|
| Domestic food facilities | HHS OIG’s 2025 review found that FDA conducted fewer inspections than before the pandemic, missed required timeframes for many facilities, and often did not conduct timely follow-up after significant violations. | The report does not attribute these findings to the 2025 cuts or quantify a post-cut change in domestic inspections. |
| Foreign food sites | AP reported that FDA conducted 1,140 foreign food inspections in fiscal year 2025, 17% fewer than in fiscal year 2024. AP also reported that the count was nearly 35% below 2019 levels. | The figures establish a reported decline, not its cause or the safety of any particular food shipment or supplier. |
Domestic oversight: missed deadlines and follow-up
HHS OIG found that FDA did not inspect many domestic food facilities within required timeframes. The agency also attempted inspections at thousands of facilities that were no longer operating, an inefficient use of resources. For most significant violations, FDA did not conduct timely follow-up inspections.
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OIG reported that FDA identified significant violations in 1–2% of inspected facilities each year, and that this rate had decreased steadily over time. That finding is about violations identified during inspections; it does not by itself show that facilities became safer, that inspectors missed violations, or that the cuts caused the decline.
OIG recommended increasing inspections, improving identification of inactive facilities, examining the declining rate of significant violations found, and conducting timely follow-up. FDA concurred with all four recommendations.
Foreign oversight: far below the annual target
AP reported that the 1,140 foreign food inspections in fiscal year 2025 were part of a longer-running shortfall. The same September 2026 reporting said inspections were down nearly 35% since 2019. AP, citing FDA records and GAO findings, reported 1,700 inspections in 2019—the previous high—against a statutory target of more than 19,000 foreign food-site inspections annually. FDA had not met that target, according to AP’s account.
The annual target is not a prediction of how many inspections will occur, and the 2019 count was still less than one-tenth of it. These figures show a persistent gap between the target and reported inspection totals, rather than a shortfall that began with the 2025 cuts.
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What do the FDA cuts mean for food recalls and outbreaks?
FDA says it uses inspections to verify compliance, respond to outbreaks, and follow up on recalls and other risks. The evidence supports concern about inspection capacity and logistics, but it does not prove that the cuts caused a specific recall, outbreak, illness, or delay in response.
What the 2026 lettuce investigation shows—and does not show
AP reported that, during a 2026 cyclospora investigation tied to lettuce, FDA inspectors reached a Mexican farm associated by FDA with the outbreak about one month after the July 17 recall announcement. AP said it was FDA’s first visit to that site since 2019. Former FDA Deputy Commissioner for Food Policy and Response Frank Yiannas said, “It took us too long to get boots on the ground.”
The farm’s role was not settled in the reporting. AP said Mexican authorities found no positive samples or other red flags there, FDA retracted a faulty test result that had been said to detect cyclospora on a lettuce sample, and FDA’s investigation remained ongoing. The account therefore illustrates concerns about the timing and complexity of an investigation, not proof that the farm caused the outbreak or that staffing cuts caused the timing.
Why inspections are only one safeguard
FDA describes its inspection system as risk-based. Routine surveillance is one part of it; targeted inspections, compliance follow-up, and for-cause inspections address particular risks or findings. For imports, FDA also uses importer verification, field examination, and sampling. Inspections cannot substitute for every other safeguard across a large food supply.
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As former FDA food director Susan Mayne put it in AP’s September 2026 reporting, “Inspections will never be the only way to ensure the safety of imported products given the massive volume coming into the country.”
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What remains unfinished under the Food Safety Modernization Act?
GAO’s 2026 updates show both progress and unfinished work under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). In January, GAO found that FDA still needed to complete requirements and assess whether its rules helped prevent foodborne illness. FDA officials cited competing priorities and the agency’s October 2024 reorganization as reasons requirements had not been fully completed. In March 2025, officials told GAO they intended to establish a food-tracing system by July 2028 but did not give specific timeframes for other requirements.
In its July 2026 status update, GAO recorded subsequent agency-reported progress as well as outstanding work:
- FDA had established a product-tracing system and documented an implementation plan and timeline in a March 2026 report to Congress.
- FDA was working toward timeframes for finalizing hazard-analysis and preventive-controls guidance, intentional-adulteration guidance, and updated good agricultural practices.
- FDA said it had drafted a report on the national food emergency response laboratory network but provided no publication date. It reported a process for biennial reports beginning in 2027.
- FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine was in the process of hiring a full-time employee who would partly work on performance management for the Preventive Controls for Animal Food Rule.
These are status updates reported by GAO about FDA’s work; they are not independent verification that every underlying effort is complete or that the rules have reduced illness.
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Who inspects restaurants and imported food?
FDA’s role is significant, but it is not the only food-safety authority, and it does not directly conduct all food inspections. The agency oversees many food facilities and imports. More than 3,000 state, local, and tribal agencies have primary responsibility for retail food and foodservice establishments, according to FDA. That means a question about FDA staffing does not, on its own, describe inspection coverage at restaurants and other retail food businesses.
For domestic facilities, FSMA requires high-risk facilities to be inspected at least once every three years and non-high-risk facilities at least once every five years. Infant-formula manufacturers have an annual risk-based inspection requirement. For imported food, FDA says it seeks comparable oversight through importer verification, field examinations, sampling, and foreign inspections; those tools are broader than visits to foreign sites alone.
This article concerns FDA oversight of food and does not cover USDA’s separate oversight of meat and poultry.
What the evidence supports after one year
The record supports a measured conclusion: FDA food-safety oversight had documented inspection and implementation weaknesses, and AP reported fewer foreign inspections in fiscal year 2025. It does not provide a complete count of food-program job losses or a causal evaluation showing how much the 2025 cuts changed inspections, outbreak response, or illness. Readers can reasonably scrutinize the inspection decline and the reported operational constraints without treating an unresolved cause—or an ongoing outbreak investigation—as settled fact.
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