Following the firing of former CDC Director Susan Monarez, Ph.D. on August 27, HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill, who has no medical or infectious disease training, has been named CDC Acting Director.
Nominated by President Trump and confirmed in July, CDC Director Susan Monarez, Ph.D., was fired after scientific clashes with HHS Secretary Kennedy (RFK Jr.) and refusing to dismiss three veteran officials, who also departed CDC shortly after her termination was finalized.
Citing insufficient funding, CDC’s Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) program has reduced surveillance from eight important foodborne pathogens to just two—Salmonella and Shiga-toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC).
A leaked draft of the second Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Strategy Report has scant new specifics on how the Administration intends to tackle childhood chronic disease, but it outlines an approach that continues to rely on voluntary industry compliance and deregulation for food system reform, which has drawn criticism.
In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to George Misko, a legal expert on the regulation of food and food contact materials, about the recent “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) Report calling for changes to the “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS) provision, food additives, and food contact materials oversight—and the potential regulatory implications.
On July 29, the Senate confirmed Trump Nominee Susan Monarez, Ph.D. as the new director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She is an immunologist and microbiologist, and the agency’s first non-physician Director in more than 70 years.
The fiscal 2026 budget request from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services touches on infant formula, ultra-processed foods, and other HHS priorities that Food Safety Magazine has reported on.
The Trump administration released its "Make America Healthy Again" (MAHA) Report on May 22, laying a foundation for the overhaul of government policy on childhood nutrition, food chemicals, environmental toxins found in food contact materials, and other concerns.
According to the New York Times and CBS News, some fired FDA food safety scientists and terminated FDA food safety labs are being reinstated, as well as several dozen inspectoral support staff, following mass layoffs handed down from the Trump Administration.
