At the July 15 grand opening event for a new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) food safety laboratory in Missouri, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins also previewed the agency’s new food safety policy plan.

The new Midwestern Food Safety Laboratory in Normandy, Missouri will support USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) regulatory efforts to ensure food safety, including product testing and analysis activities. It is one of three FSIS Field Service Laboratories in the country, and is opening after two years of construction. 

Replacing the old laboratory in St. Louis, Missouri, the Normandy lab boasts 70,000 square feet of space and state-of-the-art facilities. It will play a critical role in analyzing verification samples for foodborne pathogens and chemical residues, and will also support efforts to streamline the FSIS laboratory system. The lab’s proximity to the St. Louis Lambert International Airport is intended to optimize operations and maximize talent recruitment.

USDA's Plan to Bolster Meat and Poultry Safety

Alongside the opening of the USDA-FSIS Midwestern Food Safety Laboratory, Secretary Rollins unveiled the agency’s new food safety policy, which is intended to reduce instances of foodborne illness through more stringent food safety inspections, enhanced testing procedures, and more rapid outbreak response.

Several points of focus in the plan are reminiscent of failures and vulnerabilities revealed by the deadly Boar's Head listeriosis outbreak of 2024, upon which USDA promised to investigate and take action; for example, USDA's regulatory approach to Listeria monocytogenes, Talmadge-Aiken state cooperative inspection programs, and taking action against noncompliant firms.

The five-part plan focuses on:

1. Microbiological Testing and Inspection Oversight

USDA is making continued enhancements to its Listeria testing method to provide results to industry more quickly and to detect a broader set of Listeria species. Additional results will highlight conditions where Listeria monocytogenes can thrive in facilities producing ready-to-eat (RTE) products and help industry and FSIS identify potential sanitation problems. So far in 2025, FSIS has tested over 23,000 samples for Listeria, a more than 200 percent increase in samples from 2024.

FSIS is also mobilizing its resources to perform more robust, in-person Food Safety Assessments (FSAs), prioritizing RTE meat and poultry establishments. In 2025, the agency completed 440 FSAs, a 52 percent increase from the same time period in 2024. These reviews proactively identify and address potential food safety concerns.

2. Equipping FSIS Inspectors with Updated Training and Tools

In 2025, FSIS implemented a new weekly questionnaire for frontline inspectors to collect data on specific Listeria monocytogenes-related risk factors at all RTE establishments. This new tool collects important data to identify developing food safety concerns, allowing FSIS inspectors and their supervisors to take timely action to protect consumers. To date, approximately 53,000 weekly questionnaires with over 840,000 new data points have been collected on these risk factors.

To complement the questionnaire, FSIS continues to enhance its instructions and related training for inspectors to help them recognize and elevate problems with an establishment’s food safety system. New instructions aid inspectors in recognizing how to look beyond individual noncompliances and determine when an establishment has systemic problems that should be elevated and addressed. Since January, the agency also updated its Listeria-specific training and administered it to over 5,200 frontline inspection personnel. This training will strengthen inspectors’ understanding of the regulatory requirements in FSIS’ Listeria Rule and how to verify that establishments have designed and implemented food safety systems that comply with those requirements.

3. Reducing Salmonella Illnesses Attributable to Poultry

Secretary Rollins has charged FSIS to find a more effective and achievable approach to address Salmonella in poultry products after withdrawing the previously proposed Salmonella Framework in April, citing "significant concerns raised by stakeholders about the regulatory burden and costly impacts it would have had on small poultry growers and processors." According to USDA, "the Trump Administration is pursuing a new, common-sense strategy on Salmonella to protect public health while preventing unnecessary regulatory overreach, which will begin by convening listening sessions with key stakeholders to collaborate on best approaches moving forward." 

The previously proposed regulatory framework was developed after extensive consideration by the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF), an expert scientific advisory committee that was disbanded by the Trump Administration in March, as well as several rounds of stakeholder consultation. The previously proposed framework was supported by consumer protection groups like STOP Foodborne Illness and Consumer Reports. Critics of the framework included poultry industry representatives like the National Chicken Council.

4. Strengthening State Partnerships

States are crucial partners in ensuring a safe and strong food supply and provide a vital service in bringing nutritious, affordable American food products to dinner tables across the country. In May, Secretary Rollins announced an additional $14.5 million in funding to reimburse states for their meat and poultry inspection programs and called on Congress to more sustainably fund these programs moving forward. This funding is needed to support more than 1,500 American businesses that rely on state inspection, including small and very small meat and poultry processors. Secretary Rollins also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) in May to improve collaboration between USDA and states.

Additionally, in 2025, FSIS signed updated, comprehensive cooperative agreements with all 29 states that operate state meat and poultry programs. These agreements clarify expectations for oversight and enforcement of food safety laws, provide comprehensive training for inspectors, and ensure regular coordination with FSIS. As part of its enhanced oversight of Talmadge-Aiken state cooperative programs, FSIS has completed in-person reviews at 77 percent (320 of 414) of Talmadge-Aiken establishments in the first six months of 2025.

5. Empowering FSIS Inspectors to Take Action to Drive Compliance

FSIS is exercising its enforcement authorities and issuing notices of intended enforcement or suspending operations at establishments to address recurring noncompliance and ensure safe food production. The agency has taken 103 enforcement actions in 2025 to protect consumers, an increase of 36 percent over the same period in 2024. Additionally, FSIS has instructed its field supervisors to conduct in-person, follow-up visits when systemic issues are identified during an FSA. Follow-up visits by FSIS field supervisors bolster oversight to ensure an establishment fully addresses issues identified during an FSA and could inform enforcement action by FSIS.