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As in years past, USDA’s Pesticide Data Program reports that more than 99 percent of foods sampled in 2024 were compliant with EPA pesticide residue limits. Some persistent organic pollutants, like DDT, continue to show up in crops.

In this bonus episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to four seasoned professionals with experience in the regulatory, academic, and industry spheres about the increasing rate of U.S. food recalls and how the foodborne illness outbreak investigation system could be improved.

At the 55^th Session of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH), prompted by the ongoing infant botulism outbreak linked to ByHeart formula in the U.S., CCFH decided to initiate work related to the control of Clostridium botulinum in powdered infant formula.

To help paint a picture of how federal food safety and public health regulatory agencies have been affected by the second Trump Administration, this article provides a 2025 timeline summarizing major happenings at HHS, FDA, CDC, and USDA, including firings and hirings, restructurings, policy changes, program and budget cuts, and other actions.

In this year-end episode of Food Safety Matters, we round up the top stories of 2025, covering U.S. federal food safety policy changes under the Trump Administration, MAHA- and state-led moves against food additives of concern and ultra-processed foods, infant formula safety, science on Listeria and biofilms, ongoing monitoring of avian flu, and AI food safety applications.

FDA has published its annual Pesticide Residue Monitoring Program report for Fiscal Year 2023 (FY 2023), summarizing findings from FDA testing of human and animal foods for pesticides.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) convened its eighth annual Stakeholder Forum on November 24 in Brussels, Belgium, where more than 100 agri-food stakeholders and regulators explored how risk assessment can be accelerated without compromising food safety.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is making progress on its planned endeavor to take a closer look at substances added to or otherwise found in food and food contact materials. 

FDA shared results of sampling and testing for PFAS conducted under the Total Diet Study in 2024. “Forever chemicals” were detected in 39 of 542 samples, with the highest concentrations in samples of shrimp, clams, catfish, and tilapia.

On December 18, career food scientist and microbiologist Mindy Brashears, Ph.D. was confirmed by the Senate in a 53–42 vote for a second term as the Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food Safety, a role in which she will oversee USDA-FSIS.