As promised by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) at the end of March, thousands of layoffs at FDA and CDC have begun. A hazy picture of how those cuts are affecting food safety-related positions is beginning to emerge, and stakeholders and legislators are voicing their opposition.
This episode of Food Safety Five discusses newly published CDC data about the pathogens causing foodborne illness and contributing factors of outbreaks, as well as research by CDC, USDA, and FDA scientists exploring the use of AI analysis of whole genome sequencing data for foodborne illness source attribution.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced a major restructuring that includes the firing of 10,000 employees across all its departments. FDA and CDC will lose 3,500 and 2,400 current staffers, respectively. HHS says FDA food reviewers and inspectors will not be affected.
The Trump Administration has selected current Acting Director and Principal Deputy Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Susan Monarez, Ph.D. as its nominee for the next Director of the agency.
Researchers from CDC, FDA, and USDA trained an artificial intelligence (AI) machine learning model to conduct food source attribution for human cases of salmonellosis by analyzing whole genome sequencing (WGS) data for Salmonella isolates. The model showed promise, estimating that the majority of salmonellosis cases are caused by chicken and vegetables
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated its estimates for the burden of domestically acquired foodborne illnesses in the U.S. caused by major pathogens. Norovirus was the leading cause of illnesses and hospitalizations, but Salmonella topped fatalities.
According to a survey by CDC researchers, nine percent of consumers reported eating prepackaged frozen vegetables raw and 40 percent reported not following cooking instructions, underlining the importance of preventive controls and processing steps to reduce pathogen contamination during production.
CDC released a summary of Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System data, analyzing the causes of foodborne illness outbreaks that occurred between 2014 and 2022.
Following mass layoffs that swept regulatory agencies, including those responsible for food safety and foodborne illness response, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has walked back its orders to dismiss probationary employees. The change was prompted by a court decision that deemed OPM’s orders to dismiss staffers as unlawful.
Since the inauguration of President Trump, there has been an avalanche of changes at federal regulatory agencies responsible for U.S. food safety and foodborne illness response (FDA, USDA, and CDC), including mass layoffs, the resignation and new appointments of top officials, a communications freeze, and more.
