A nationwide outbreak of Cyclospora tied to contaminated lettuce has heightened safety concerns about imported food, while underscoring a longer-term trend: U.S. regulators are conducting fewer international inspections to catch contaminated produce before it lands on American plates.
FDA inspections of foreign food sites -- including the Mexican farm linked to the ongoing outbreak -- are down nearly 35% since 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to agency records. The pandemic kicked off a wave of retirements and departures among FDA inspectors that continues to this day.
Even before COVID, the agency had long failed to hit its congressionally mandated targets for international inspections. And recent staffing cuts, reorganizations, and other upheavals under President Donald Trump could mean even fewer inspections in the years ahead, according to former senior FDA officials.
"When you look at the numbers of inspections balanced against the responsibility of the FDA -- in terms of all the firms domestically and internationally under its oversight -- the agency just can't achieve what is required," said Michael Rogers, who spent nearly 35 years in various inspection roles within the agency. He added that FDA continues to do many things "very well with limited resources."
