Outbreaks of food-borne pathogens such as listeria in deli meat, lead in applesauce and bacteria in infant formula have sickened and killed people over the past few years. Officials from state and federal agencies have isolated the tainted products and made sure that food was recalled from store shelves. But that protection is in jeopardy as 3500 FDA jobs are being eliminated.
According to the New York Times, “those employees and their specific roles in ending outbreaks are now threatened by Trump administration measures to increase government efficiency, which come on top of cuts being made by the Food and Drug Administration’s chronically underfunded food division.” At the FDA, “freezes on government credit card spending ordered by the Trump administration have impeded staff members from buying food to perform routine tests for deadly bacteria.”
According to Darin Detwiler, a food safety consultant and associate professor at Northeastern University, whose toddler son died in an E. coli outbreak in 1993, “’It’s as if someone, without enough information, has said, What’s a good way to save money on our automobiles?’ he asked. ‘Let’s just take out the seat belts and air bags, because do we really need them?’”
Like the scenarios at other government agencies, seemingly arbitrary cost cutting is hampering the work by experts whose function is to ensure public safety. Funding cuts and staff shortages disrupt the ongoing tests involved in food safety resulting in increased danger of deadly outbreaks.