As U.S. Pieces Together How HHS Cuts are Affecting Food Safety, Stakeholders Speak Out
Now that thousands of layoffs at U.S. federal public health agencies are being executed as was promised by the Trump Administration at the end of March, an incomplete picture of how those cuts are affecting food safety-related positions is beginning to emerge. Food safety and consumer protection stakeholders, as well as some legislators, are speaking out against the sweeping cuts at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
On March 27, 2025, HHS, which encompasses the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), among other agencies, announced a major restructuring that included a workforce reduction of approximately 3,500 and 2,400 staffers currently employed at FDA and CDC, respectively. These layoffs, which began being implemented in the first week of April, are in addition to the mass firing of probationary employees at FDA and CDC that occurred in February 2025 and resulted in the resignation of FDA Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods Jim Jones.
Although HHS claimed that the new round of layoffs would not affect food reviewers, inspectors, scientists, or front-line workers, several sources are reporting that this may not actually be the case.
Veterinarians, Lead Experts, and Food Scientists in the Firing Line
For example, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) released a statement on April 4 asserting that the HHS cuts included more than 140 leaders and staff members at FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, and that additional veterinarians working in FDA’s Human Foods Program, Office of Inspections and Investigations, and other areas, have been impacted. Veterinary staff at CDC and the U.S. National Institutes of Health have also been affected. According to AVMA President Sandra Faeh, D.V.M., “The offices impacted by this recent reduction-in-force work on issues such as drug availability, antimicrobial resistance, animal and human food safety, disease control (including, but not limited to, avian influenza), international trade, and much more.”
Additionally, according to CNN, the entire Lead Poisoning Prevention and Surveillance Branch in CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health has been wiped out. Toxic heavy metals (including lead) contamination is a significant food safety concern. For instance, between October 2023 and February 2024, more than 400 cases of child lead poisonings were reported by CDC, which FDA linked to adulterated cinnamon sourced from an Ecuadorian supplier that was used in nationally distributed applesauce pouches.
Instances of intentional lead adulteration aside, toxic heavy metals present in the food supply—especially foods consumed by babies and young children—as a result of their natural presence in the environment is also a pressing issue. At FDA, one of the objectives of HHS’ recently announced Operation Stork Speed initiative is to increase testing for heavy metals and other contaminants in infant formula and foods commonly consumed by young children. However, following the new round of layoffs, Consumer Reports, a leading consumer protection-focused food safety advocacy group, shared its reaffirmed skepticism that the agency will be able to keep its promises outlined in Operation Stork Speed, and delivered a petition to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asking him to ensure FDA has the staffing and resources it needs to protect infant formula safety.
“Recent staff layoffs at FDA have been devastating and raise serious concerns about whether the agency has the resources it needs to protect young children from dangerous contaminants in food like lead and arsenic in infant formula,” said Brian Ronholm, Director of Food Policy at Consumer Reports. “An FDA that lacks the staffing and resources it needs to ensure our food is safe puts all of us at risk, especially babies who are particularly vulnerable to toxic exposure.”
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Moreover, according to Helena Bottmiller-Evich’s Food Fix, “numerous scientists within FDA, including toxicologists and microbiologists who worked directly on food safety in laboratories and elsewhere across the agency,” have been let go, although some lab staff are reportedly being asked to return. Despite being told than more than 230 of Human Foods Program staff were fired, Food Fix was unable to confirm exactly how many positions were eliminated, because “there was basically no one left to ask,” since “FDA eliminated its entire media, engagement, and communications operation.”
Additionally, in a statement posted to LinkedIn by the Institute for Food Safety and Health (IFSH) at Illinois Tech, it was revealed that nearly all FDA staff in the Division of Food Processing Science and Technology, which is co-located at IFSH, were let go. "Many were long-time collaborators in food safety and health topics," the statement said, "ranging from microbiology and chemistry to allergens and food processing. They have been researching in areas such as powdered infant formula safety, bird flu in dairy, prevention of foodborne death due to pathogens, implementing allergen controls, food packaging safety, prevention of toxins in food... plus so much more."
Congresspeople Have Questions for Secretary Kennedy
As the reality of the massive layoffs at HHS sets in, many have voiced their criticisms about the move and questioned how the cuts could “Make America Healthy Again.” At the congressional level, U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-Louisiana), Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Ranking Member of the HELP Committee, invited Secretary Kennedy to participate in an April 10 HELP Committee hearing to answer questions about the reorganization of HHS.
Additionally, in a statement, the Congressional Doctors Caucus comprising six Democrat congresspeople with medical backgrounds, condemned the HHS mass firings, writing, “Eliminating 25 percent of HHS staff, including scientists and researchers, weakens our ability to combat disease outbreaks [and] ensure food and drug safety… these cuts come as we are facing active threats to our public health, including …a deadly bird flu outbreak.”
Experts Warn that Food Safety Will be Disproportionately Affected by FDA Cuts
Consumer protection group the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) also stated its opposition to HHS cuts, especially as they relate to food safety, pointing out that roles related to food safety at FDA seem to be disproportionally affected in comparison to the agency’s drug, biologics, and device centers. “These [medical] centers are doubly protected from cuts because they receive user fees from industry, which come with requirements to maintain congressional appropriations at predetermined levels,” wrote Sarah Sorcher, J.D., M.P.H. Director of Regulatory Affairs. “So what’s left to cut at FDA? Disproportionately, it is food. And within foods, non-inspection programs are most likely to be targeted.” She warned that would mean FDA work areas like policy development, as well as the translation, communication, and enforcement of science-informed standards. “Transparency takes staffing,” Ms. Schorcher wrote.
Ms. Sorcher also pointed out that, while HHS promised to shield food inspectors from HHS layoffs, in reality, most FDA food safety inspections are conducted not by FDA staff, but under state grants that are also being cut. “In March, many of the state programs that carry out 90 percent of our produce and 75 percent of our manufactured foods inspections quietly received word that they would face steep cuts in federal funding,” she stated.
