A new analysis of U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) data conducted by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) has painted a picture of the effect that Trump-era federal workforce cuts are having on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) food safety work.

According to NSAC, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) have been particularly hard-hit. Additional personnel losses are likely in the future due to USDA’s planned reorganization, which was announced on July 24, 2025.

Counting USDA’s Losses: Thousands of Food Safety Staffers, Institutional Knowledge, Technical Expertise 

Shortly after the inauguration of President Trump, sweeping reductions in force (RIFs) were made across a broad range of federal agencies, beginning with the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE’s) Deferred Resignation Program (DRP), which offered staffers incentives to voluntarily resign, alongside other separation initiatives. Because of these RIF efforts, between January and March 2025, USDA-APHIS and USDA-FSIS lost 20 percent and 8 percent of their total workforce, as revealed by OPM data.

It was revealed in May that, in total, more than 15,000 employees across USDA accepted DRP offers, including 1,377 APHIS staffers and 555 FSIS staffers. USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) also lost 1,255 employees.

Veteran staffers holding institutional knowledge and technical expertise represent a significant proportion of these losses. OPM figures show that, of those who left USDA due to DRP offers, the average length of service was 10 years and 16 years at APHIS and FSIS, respectively. Moreover, 15 percent of the separated APHIS employees held advanced degrees, and 63 of the lost FSIS staff were classified under the Investigations group, which includes food safety inspectors.

Subsequently, APHIS, which is responsible for bird flu response—a critical function amid the ongoing highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 (HPAI H5N1) outbreak affecting poultry and dairy cows—was reportedly left scrambling to rehire those in positions supporting bird flu efforts after the mass RIFs.

How USDA Reorganization Could Further Impact Workforce and Food Safety

NSAC projects that USDA’s planned reorganization will further exacerbate the agency’s loss of staff in food safety roles. Part of the plan includes the relocation of USDA staff from the greater Washington D.C. area to offices across the U.S. OPM data shows that approximately 14 percent and 8 percent of USDA-APHIS and USDA-FSIS staff are located in Washington D.C., Maryland, or Virginia. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has shared her expectation that as many as 50 percent of USDA’s Washington D.C.-area staff could resign rather than relocate.

Moreover, NSAC believes that the reorganization plan’s proposed consolidation of support, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and Tribal relationship functions will negatively impact food safety. Specifically, USDA-FSIS provides voluntary inspection for non-amenable species including bison, which are often cultivated by different Tribal nations, and could be disrupted by a lack of direct connection between FSIS and Tribes.

Zooming out, NSAC also stated that, if USDA-FSIS is understaffed and overstretched, the agency could potentially prioritize working with large processing facilities, undermining support and outreach to small and midsize firms. Not only is there no statutory provision to explicitly stop FSIS from prioritizing large operations, NSAC also pointed to evidence uncovered by Politico suggesting that, during the government shutdown, FSIS continued to pay inspectors at large processing facilities while inspectors at small and midsized plants went unpaid.

What OPM Data Say About FDA’s Food Safety Losses 

Although the OPM figures on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) workforce losses are more opaque, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) publicized in April that its reorganization included a workforce reduction of approximately 3,500 and 2,400 staffers currently employed at FDA and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), respectively. 

Looking at OPM data, however, NSAC found that the agency lost an additional 411 employees (aside from the April HHS RIFs) due to separations between January and March 2025. Overall, these employees had an average 21 years of experience, and the inspectors within this group had an average 19 years of experience.

“Together, the staff at [USDA and FDA] help ensure a safe food system that serves consumers and farmers,” said NSAC. “These major staff losses are extremely concerning not just for preventing foodborne illness but also for the ability of the agencies to develop, educate, and enforce standards and regulations in a manner that is appropriate for farmers and processors of all sizes.”