Food Safety Inspections Cease in Government Shutdown
Food and Drug Administration plans to resume some, but not all food safety inspections.
Jan 15, 2019
WASHINGTON – The ongoing government shutdown has impacted several U.S. agencies—one of which is the Food and Drug Administration. Although an independent agency, the FDA is still furloughing most of its employees. And as a result, most food safety inspections have stopped.
FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb told NBC News that he is trying to pinpoint the most essential inspections, while making sure that employees do not suffer too much. To get the work done, though, the agency will have to force furloughed workers to come back without pay. Nearly 41% of staff, or 7,000 employees, are furloughed.
“It’s not business as usual, and we are not doing all the things we would do under normal circumstances,” said Dr. Gottlieb. “There are important things we are not doing.”
As NBC News puts it, this means that inspectors are not looking for “salmonella in breakfast cereal, E. coli in romaine lettuce, or listeria in ice cream.” Foreign food inspections are continuing to take place, but domestic food inspections are “virtually stopped.”
Meat and some egg products are inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. These inspectors are still working but without pay, since law requires continuous USDA inspection.
