New Report: Trump’s Food Safety Cutbacks Are Making Americans Sick
Lettuce field in Central Valley, California
A new report from Defend America Action draws a direct line between the Trump administration slashing food safety enforcement and the growing number of Americans getting sick with foodborne illnesses.
More than 15,000 Americans have contracted cyclosporiasis in recent months, a type of food poisoning that causes low-grade fevers and painful diarrhea. The outbreak has been traced to iceberg lettuce. In August, multiple store-bought guacamoles were recalled because of potential salmonella contamination.
This has been a growing trend in President Donald Trump’s second term. Last year, 25 people were hospitalized and six died after contracting listeria from ready-to-eat pasta products. In total, the federal government failed to identify the source for 13 of the 28 foodborne illness outbreaks reported last year.
“As families spent this summer wondering what was safe to put on the dinner table, everyone is wondering what happened to the safeguards designed to protect our food supply,” the report says.
Issues of food safety and public health are generally managed by three federal agencies: the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
All of these agencies were dramatically downsized by DOGE, the White House initiative that slashed workforces across the federal government. The FDA lost 3,859 employees and the USDA lost 19,984, including 874 workers at its Food Safety and Inspection Service.
The White House insisted food safety inspectors were not included in the firings, but the gutting of support staff still contributed to a growing backlog of uninspected food producers. The farm linked to the cyclosporiasis outbreak, for example, had not been inspected for seven years.
As for the CDC under Trump, it narrowed the foodborne pathogens it monitors from six to two. Cyclosporiasis and listeria are among the pathogens no longer being tracked.
“FDA inspections are the first line of defense for mitigating contamination outbreaks,” the report continues, noting that this applies to both domestic and imported products.
Food borne illnesses are also affecting the economy. USDA data suggests that food borne illnesses cost Americans $75 billion a year in medical care, lost productivity, and premature deaths before Trump started eliminating safeguards. Now, that figure seems poised to grow.
According to a CBS poll, 40 percent of Americans are buying and eating less produce of all brands and varieties, not just those impacted by cyclosporiasis. A separate poll found that a majority of Americans have little or no confidence in government oversight of food safety.
“Even though Trump and his allies promised to ‘Make America Healthy Again,’” the report says, “his administration has made it harder to find out what is making Americans sick.”
Reprinted with permission from American Journal News
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