The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) now finds itself under the sharpest of spotlights. Recent cuts to staffing threaten the safety inspectors across the U.S. As of last year, the FDA used just around 430 full time staffers for domestic and foreign food inspections combined. Only 20 of these investigators made international assignments their specialty. This continues to ring alarm bells regarding the agency’s capacity to maintain regulatory oversight given its limited resources.
If these trends continue, the nation will further increase its reliance on foreign food supplies. Experts caution that this heavy reliance on food, particularly seafood and fresh fruit, may cause increased public health burdens. The FDA has done inspections at least 29 percent fewer foreign inspections than the same time periods over the past two years. Furthermore, projections indicate that this year’s inspections are currently set to be the lowest since 2011, excluding pandemic-affected years.
The shift in focus toward unannounced foreign inspections, which require extensive logistical planning, special visas, and diplomatic approvals, further complicates the situation. Each foreign inspection costs over $40,000 and often takes months to schedule. Critics contend that without this funding, the FDA will look to cut corners and undermine its first duty to protect safety standards.
Staffing Cuts and Their Impact
These challenges have only grown since March when the administration started enforcing the mandated staffing cuts. These repeated cuts have greatly compromised the agency’s capacity to perform foreign inspections. The upshot is that investigators’ morale has hit rock bottom. Most deep experience senior officials have retired early. Consequently, the already-understaffed workforce is left to try to keep up with a growing workload.
Investigators have said it took months for them to be reimbursed for expenses, causing hesitation to take foreign assignments. The pipeline of unreimbursed reimbursements has now jumped to over $1 million. This jump is due to the fact that the people in charge of processing these expenses have left the organization. This operational atmosphere has now eroded toward one where even core regulatory functions are met with major obstacles.
“There are going to be things that fall through the cracks, and these things aren’t negligible.” – Current FDA investigations official.
The impacts of these staffing shortages go beyond just inconvenience. Without increased regulatory scrutiny, particularly with regard to cumulative effects, safety improvements often don’t consider a broader scope of dangers. This predicament should especially frighten us. In other words, the FDA has a responsibility to make sure that all food producers, foreign or domestic, live up to American safety standards.
Unannounced Foreign Inspections
To further address the difficulty in keeping track of inspections, the FDA announced an expansion of unannounced foreign inspections. Although this approach seeks to improve regulatory scrutiny, it has unique challenges. In their report, the investigators pointed out that such inspections require an “accelerated coordination process.” This represents a big change from standard practices, which rely almost entirely on up-front planning.
“A foreign unannounced trip is like an accelerated coordination process.” – Current FDA investigations official.
The intention driving these surprise inspections is to ensure that foreign producers can be held accountable with no advance notice. The impact of this new approach will largely depend on staffing and resources, two areas that remain short. Experts are cautioning that this move to raise the number of inspections will be complicated to execute and will require matched staffing increases.
“If you’re going to increase the number and not increase the staff, we don’t know how to make some of that stuff work.” – Current FDA investigations official.
This raises questions about how well the FDA can adapt to these new practices under the constraints imposed by budget cuts and staff reductions.
Public Health Concerns
As the FDA figures out how to respond to these issues, public health advocates worry that this will have serious implications on our food safety. The agency’s authority to prevent entry of non-compliant foreign products is still effective, but with fewer inspections, there is overall less oversight. What’s more, this would result in a greater risk of foodborne illness and outbreak.
“Less inspections translate to less regulatory oversight, and that, from a public health perspective, never benefits the public.” – Former high-level FDA investigations official.
The ongoing reductions in staffing and resources have been described as a “wrecking ball” to important government functions that ensure food safety. Scott Faber, the senior vice president for government affairs at the Environmental Working Group, laid out the need for oversight in stark terms. Without it, the next Flint or other serious health crisis is a sure thing.
“It’s only a matter of time before people die.” – Scott Faber, senior vice president for government affairs at the Environmental Working Group.
Brian Ronholm, the director of food policy at Consumer Reports. Who can blame them. He draws attention to the greater danger posed by fewer safety inspections.
“There’s an enhanced risk of more outbreaks.” – Brian Ronholm, director of food policy at Consumer Reports.
What’s more troubling than just the current state of the FDA’s inspection capabilities is what it means in the long-term for public health and safety. With increasing dependence on foreign food sources, ensuring that they meet our strict safety standards is more important than ever.
