USDA loses 555 food inspectors as Trump withdraws Salmonella rules

Trump's HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cut 89 FDA food safety staff on Feb. 17, 2025, including 10 scientists who reviewed unsafe food ingredients before manufacturers added them to products.

Kennedy closed FDA testing laboratories in San Francisco and Chicago in Apr. 2025. San Francisco scientists were the only federal employees able to test pet food for H5N1 bird flu. Chicago scientists specialized in identifying microplastics leaching from food packaging.

USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins withdrew the 'Salmonella Framework for Raw Poultry Products' on Apr. 25, 2025, after the poultry industry submitted 7,089 comments opposing contamination reduction requirements. Poultry producers can continue legally selling Salmonella-contaminated products.

USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service lost 555 employees between Jan. and Mar. 2025, reducing workforce by 8%. Of those departures, 63% were classified as outbreak investigators and meat inspection personnel.

More than 15,000 USDA employees accepted the Trump administration's resignation offers in 2025, representing over 15% of the agency's workforce.

Foodborne illness outbreaks in 2024 sickened 1,392 Americans (up from 1,118 in 2023), hospitalized 487 (up from 230), and killed 19 (up from 8). The 2024 Boar's Head Listeria outbreak killed 10 people.

Remaining USDA inspectors must now visit eight facilities daily, double the usual number. One inspector told NPR that pace is 'not possible.'