The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has suspended the testing of Grade ‘A’ fluid milk and related finished products. The halt in the testing program comes after the US FDA faced a host of changes under President Donald Trump’s administration. This move might weaken food safety oversight and detection of pathogens and harmful substances in consumables.
Highlights
- The US Food and Drug Administration has suspended the testing of Grade ‘A’ milk and other related dairy products.
- Effective Monday, the testing was suspended due to the decommissioning of the Moffett lab that originally handled the inspection of these products.
- This move comes after the current administration under Donald Trump decided to lay off 20,000 employees.
Reasons for Suspension of Milk Quality Testing
The Moffett Center for Proficiency Testing Laboratory was shut down for a range of reasons. (Source: US FDA website)
This decision was made after the FDA’s Moffett Center Proficiency Testing Laboratory, the branch that managed dairy testing programs, was shut down. The laboratory is now incapable of supporting proficiency testing or data analysis owing to a resource and staffing shortage.
This will result in an inability to uphold the kind of testing standard required for maintaining a Grade ‘A’ for milk and milk products, meeting the safety regulations put in place by the dairy industry.
The lab was already being decommissioned. However, the wave of workforce elimination has now accelerated the process, even disrupting ongoing operations. The Trump administration is also proposing to cut $40 billion from the agency. This will further affect the FDA’s ability to conduct proficiency testing programs in order to ensure accuracy and consistency across the food safety labs network in the country. Labs also rely on quality control tests to meet accreditation standards set in place by the Health Departments in each state.
The halt comes after the Trump administration decided to make budget cuts across the board, including the termination of 20,000 employees at the Department of Health and Human Services, including the workforce at the US FDA, as part of the current administration’s effort to reduce the size of the federal workforce.
As per the email, the FDA is said to be “actively evaluating alternative approaches for the upcoming fiscal year and will keep all participating laboratories informed as new information becomes available.”
Setbacks in the US FDA
In recent times, the US FDA’s testing capabilities have experienced a string of setbacks. Earlier in the month, the agency also had to put a halt to the programs that focused on detecting and tracking dangerous pathogens such as Cyclospora in the food supply.
The Interlaboratory Comparison Exercise for Detecting Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza was also set to start operating later this month. The launch was suspended owing to a workforce shrinkage at the FDA’s Human Food Program supporting the testing, as well as the scientific requirements of the program.
The program was slated to include over 40 laboratories within the FDA’s Veterinary Laboratory Investigation and Response Network (Vet-LIRN) and USDA’s National Animal Health Laboratory Network, in addition to the existing FDA food labs, as well as private industries.
