The list of data, method, and research needs spans microbiological and chemical safety, nutrition, risk assessment, and other areas. It is intended to guide researchers who are interested in pursuing impactful food safety research.
By the end of May, complaint systems for all FDA-regulated products, including human and animal foods, will be replaced by the new, streamlined Adverse Event Monitoring System (AEMS).
FDA's Human Foods Program has released its priority deliverables and guidance agenda for 2026, in line with the continued implementation of the Trump administration's MAHA agenda.
Leaked to Inside Health Policy, an HHS proposed reorganization plan for FDA would eliminate the agency’s product-specific centers in favor of five new function-focused offices. An FDA restructuring was already very recently implemented in October 2024 after two years of development, which created a unified Human Foods Program and new Office of Inspections and Investigations.
FDA Human Foods Program staffers recently told Consumer Reports how a current spending freeze at the agency is affecting their ability to do their jobs, and leaves them feeling “dangerously unprepared” for the next foodborne illness outbreak or food safety emergency.
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.
According to multiple sources, FDA is looking to reinstate staffers who were fired by the presidential administration last week, including at least ten people who are responsible for reviewing the safety of food ingredients. USDA is also working to rehire terminated employees responsible for avian influenza response.
According to Bloomberg,attorney Kyle Diamantas, J.D. is expected to replace former Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods Jim Jones at FDA following his resignation, which was precipitated by mass layoffs within FDA’s Human Foods Program.
In a February 17 resignation letter, James (Jim) Jones, FDA Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods, stated that 89 “indiscriminate” firings in the Human Foods Program, including layoffs of employees with “highly technical expertise in nutrition, infant formula, food safety response,” would render his job to protect food safety “fruitless.”
In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we discuss the top food safety stories of 2024 and their implications, including high-profile foodborne illness outbreaks, the ongoing avian flu outbreak in poultry and dairy cattle, FDA’s Human Foods Program restructuring, rising concerns and evolving legislation around food additives and chemical contaminants, and other topics.
