How is the Government Shutdown Affecting Food Safety?

The U.S. The Food and Drug Administration will limit the number and type of site inspections it conducts as long as the federal government shutdown that began on October 1st continues. 

In the Department of Health and Human Services contingency plan, the HHS writes that the FDA “will be limited in the number and type of inspections to be conducted, unless the inspections are for cause or otherwise necessary to detect and address imminent threats to the safety of human life, or can be conducted with carryover user fee funding.”

How will the shutdown affect the FDA?

The FDA is responsible for ensuring the safety of almost 80 percent of the nation’s food supply, including fruits, vegetables, processed foods, and most seafood. 

The FDA stated that many “mission critical, public health activities” will continue, including “core functions to handle and respond to emergencies – such as monitoring for and quickly responding to outbreaks related to foodborne illness and the flu, supporting high-risk food and medical product recalls when products endanger consumers and patients, pursuing civil investigations when we believe public health is imminently at risk and pursuing criminal investigations, screening the food and medical products that are imported to the U.S. to protect consumers and patients from harmful products, and addressing other critical public health issues that involve imminent threats to the safety of human life.”

The HHS stated that the Animal Drugs and Foods Program will end pre-market safety reviews of novel animal food ingredients for livestock, and will thus “be unable to ensure that the meat, milk, and eggs of livestock are safe for people to eat; activities would be limited to those that address imminent threats to the safety of human life.”

In addition, food safety efforts within the FDA's Human Foods Program (HFP) would be reduced to safety surveillance and emergency responses, while longer-term food safety initiatives and policy work will be halted. 

The HHS announcement clarified that the FDA will retain 13,872 employees during the shutdown, about 86% of the FDA’s total workforce. This includes 3,132 expected staff whose activities are deemed necessary for the safety of human life or protection of property. 

How will the shutdown affect the USDA?

In its lapse of funding plan published on September 30th, the US Department of Agriculture stated that it expects to furlough 42,256 of its 85,907 employees during the shutdown (49%). Of those not furloughed, 30,955 have jobs that are deemed “necessary to protect life and property."

The USDA stated that its Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) “will continue to perform mission essential food safety operations required to protect life and property, including statutorily required inspection of meat, poultry, and egg products, investigations necessary to protect public health (outbreaks, recalls, etc.), laboratory work essential to identifying public health concerns and threats, emergency preparedness, and minimum levels of other support functions necessary to maintain these activities.”

The operations that will cease include “surveys for high-risk plant pests and diseases for certain swine, cattle, and aquatic animal diseases, long-term studies and research on animal diseases, research and report publications, website updates, data products, and the majority of Risk Management Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Foreign Agricultural Service, Food and Nutrition Service, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Economic Research Service, National Agricultural Statistical Service, Rural Development, and Staff Office activities.”  

How will the shutdown affect the CDC?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will retain 4,891 (35.88%) of CDC and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) staff, including 2,828 (20.74%) who are excepted because their jobs are deemed necessary by implication, or for the safety of human life or protection of property.

Activities that the CDC is suspending under the shutdown include “providing communication to the American public about important health-related information, investigation of risk factors, responses to public inquiries about public health matters, and analysis of surveillance data for reportable diseases.