USDA Disbands Two Key Food Safety Committees

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Two key federal advisory committees on food safety have been shut down, raising concerns among food safety advocates.

The move was part of a Trump administration push to cut costs and shrink the government.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) eliminated the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods and the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection.  

These groups included experts from academia, industry and nonprofit organizations.

Sandra Eskin, CEO of the advocacy group Stop Foodborne Illness, criticized the decision. “Without the input of these committees, we have little confidence that food safety policies at the USDA and FDA will, in fact, Make America Healthy Again,” Eskin said in a statement.

The committees had been working on several important food safety issues, including the use of genomic analysis to identify foodborne pathogens such as listeria, which was linked to a deadly outbreak of disease traced to Boar’s Head deli meats last year.

They also focused on cronobacter contamination in powdered infant formula — a concern after a 2022 Similac formula recall led to a nationwide shortage, The Washington Post reported.

Michael Hansen, a senior staff scientist at Consumer Reports and a NACMCF member, said he and others were notified by email last week that their work was immediately stopped.

“Maybe it will be sent to an archive somewhere,” Hansen said, noting that members were surprised the committees were disbanded entirely rather than paused.

Hansen shared the stop-work notice with The Washington Post. The notice cited a February 19 executive order from President Donald Trump aimed at cutting federal advisory committees deemed “unnecessary.”

According to the USDA website, the advisory panel on microbiological criteria for foods had an annual budget of $225,000, while meat and poultry inspection advisory group operated on $75,000. Members worked without pay, with only travel reimbursements and the equivalent of two full-time federal employees supporting them.

Critics said cutting these committees won’t result in meaningful savings and could weaken food safety oversight.

“You’re talking about meaningless cost savings in the context of such a large and significant federal agency, and you are stripping it of the scientific foundation on the basis of which it makes policy decisions about the safety of the meat and poultry supply in the United States,” Timothy Lytton, a professor at Georgia State University College of Law, told The Post.

Without these committees, inspectors will continue their work “except they won’t be doing it with the benefit of any knowledge based on microbiological testing or metrics that have been justified by the latest science,” he said.

More information

The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service has more on foodborne illness and disease.

SOURCE: The Washington Post, March 10, 2025

Source: HealthDay

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