The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reportedly suspended a quality control programme for the testing of fresh milk and other dairy products.
The suspension is due to recent staff cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), according to Reuters, which cited an internal email seen by the news agency. The FDA sits within the government department.
Around 20,000 staff have departed or been dismissed from the HHS since President Donald Trump took office, according to Reuters’ figures. The US government has also proposed cutting the HHS budget by $40bn, the Washington Post reported last week.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Trump-appointed health secretary in charge of the HHS, was criticised earlier this month by a host of agencies and officials for proceeding with a raft of threatened job cuts at government departments.
Former FDA commissioner Robert Califf said at the time: “The FDA as we’ve known it is finished, with most of the leaders with institutional knowledge and a deep understanding of product development and safety no longer employed.”
The testing programme for Grade ‘A’ raw milk and other finished products was cancelled at the FDA’s Moffett Center Proficiency Testing Laboratory due to the laboratory not being able to support proficiency testing and data analysis, Reuters reported yesterday (22 April).
The FDA earlier this month suspended efforts to improve its bird flu testing of milk and cheese, and pathogens in other food products, the news agency added.
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By GlobalDataThe programme, known as the Interlaboratory Comparison Exercise for detecting Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), was set to launch later this month but was suspended on 1 April because of cuts to staff at the FDA’s Human Food Program.
Separately, the FDA decided last week to suspend a quality control program for food testing laboratories until at least 30 September, Reuters reported last week.
The Food Emergency Response Network’s (FERN) proficiency testing programme endeavoured to create consistency and accuracy across the agency’s network of about 170 labs that test food for pathogens and contaminants to prevent food-borne illness.
The suspension means the agency will be unable to do planned quality control work around lab testing for the parasite Cyclospora in spinach or the pesticide glyphosate in barley, among other tests, according to the news agency.
