• A sign for the US Food and Drug Administration is displayed outside their offices in Silver Spring, Md., Dec. 10, 2020 (AP)

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is suspending a quality-control program for its food-testing laboratories, following major staffing cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), according to an internal email obtained by Reuters.

This move affects the proficiency testing component of the FDA’s Food Emergency Response Network (FERN), which is critical for maintaining accuracy and consistency across roughly 170 labs tasked with detecting pathogens and contaminants in food to help prevent foodborne diseases.

The loss of up to 20,000 employees from HHS has significantly disrupted public health operations, interfering with everything from bird flu research to drug approval processes. Former President Donald Trump is reportedly aiming to cut as much as $40 billion from the department's budget.

“Unfortunately, significant reductions in force, including a key quality assurance officer, an analytical chemist, and two microbiologists at FDA’s Human Food Program Moffett Center have an immediate and significant impact on the Food Emergency Response Network (FERN) Proficiency Testing (PT) Program,” the email, sent Tuesday by FERN’s National Program Office and reviewed by Reuters, states.

The email notes that the program will remain suspended at least until September 30, meaning that certain quality-control checks, such as tests for cyclospora in spinach or glyphosate in barley, won’t be conducted as planned.

“These PTs and Exercises are critical to demonstrating the competency and readiness of our laboratory network to detect and respond to food safety and food defense events,” the email continues.

HHS has yet to issue a comment in response.

A former FDA official told CBS News, “There’s so much work to go around. And us duplicating their work just doesn’t make sense.” CBS also reported that the FDA is considering halting most of its routine food safety inspections, according to multiple federal health officials.

The FDA is drawing up plans that would end most of its routine food safety inspections work, multiple federal health officials tell CBS News, and effectively outsource this oversight to state and local authorities. https://t.co/dN2z9zoMaS

— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 18, 2025

These officials, speaking anonymously, said that some higher-risk inspections may continue but warned that broader efforts could be stalled without further funding from Congress.

Staffing cuts impact national health efforts

Accreditation standards for food safety labs depend on proficiency testing like the one being suspended, said a source familiar with the issue. The source added that there are currently no clear alternatives to the FDA's program for such testing.

In February, HHS revealed plans to dismiss 5,200 probationary workers across agencies, including the FDA, CDC, and National Institutes of Health.

Earlier in April, the FDA also paused an initiative aimed at enhancing bird flu testing in milk, cheese, and pet food due to staffing shortages.

Moreover, in this time period, twenty-three states, along with the District of Columbia, sued the HHS and Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over the sudden halt of billions in funding. The lawsuit stated that in March 2025, HHS abruptly ended a wide range of grants that had been supporting immunization programs, infectious disease tracking, and mental health and substance abuse services.

That same month, Jim Jones, who led the FDA’s food division, resigned in protest of the cuts. He had initially been optimistic about contributing to national health improvements but later said the staffing reductions made that goal unattainable.

“I was looking forward to working to pursue the department’s agenda of improving the health of Americans by reducing diet-related chronic disease and risks from chemicals in food,” Jones said at the time. He added that continuing in his role would be “fruitless” under the Trump administration, which he criticized for having “disdain for the very people” who ensure food safety.