Congress Urged to Prevent FDA Traceability Rule Delay, Which Could Have Helped Cyclospora Outbreak Investigation
A coalition of food safety and consumer health interest groups has urged congressional leaders to rescind an appropriations rider that prevents the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from using federal funds to administer or enforce its Food Traceability Rule before July 20, 2028.
In an August 12 letter to House and Senate leadership, the Safe Food Coalition argued that implementation of FDA’s traceability requirements for high-risk foods, including leafy greens, would enable faster and more effective foodborne illness outbreak investigations. The letter pointed to the ongoing U.S. cyclosporiasis “epidemic” linked to widely distributed Taylor Farms lettuce, which has so far caused nearly 30,000 illnesses and two deaths.
“The epidemic has also sparked a crisis in consumer confidence, in part due to Taylor Farms’ failure to provide information to the public required under the FDA rule in its recall communications,” the letter added.
FSMA 204 Delays, Congressional Provisions to ‘Weaken’ Rule
The Food Traceability Rule was issued in 2022, fulfilling Section 204(d) of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA 204). FDA initially set a January 20, 2026 compliance date, but in March 2025, the Trump Administration delayed compliance by 30 months (until July 20, 2028).
Additionally, Section 780 of the Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act of 2026—the appropriations bill that ended the historic government shutdown in November 2025—prohibited FDA from using appropriated funds to administer or enforce the traceability rule before July 20, 2028. The provision also directed FDA to identify potential additional flexibilities for meeting the rule’s lot-level tracking requirements.
The Safe Food Coalition argued that the congressional provision could weaken the rule’s lot-code requirements and create uncertainty for food companies that have already invested in traceability systems. This provision “prods FDA to abandon the linchpin—lot codes—of its traceability framework, and to go back to the drawing board,” states the letter.
Large retailers including Kroger, Albertsons, and Walmart already implemented traceability programs incorporating FDA’s requirements before the agency announced the compliance-date extension, the letter pointed out.
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Calls for Traceability Enforcement, Adequate Foodborne Illness Surveillance Funding
The coalition also asserted that widespread compliance with FDA’s traceability requirements, coupled with adequate funding for foodborne illness surveillance and epidemiology at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state and local public health agencies, would help prevent illnesses and improve outbreak response.
The Safe Food Coalition includes the Center for Food Safety, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Reports, Farm Forward, the Government Accountability Project, the George Washington University Institute for Food Safety and Nutrition Security, the National Consumers League, Stop Foodborne Illness, United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG).
