'Reckless disregard': Trump’s FDA to end routine food inspections

President Donald Trump's administration recently made a major announcement that could impact the United States' food supply in a significant way.

CBS News reported Thursday that the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) is preparing to end all of its routine food inspections, though how and when it plans to end it depends on Congress. According to several unnamed health officials, the FDA aims to fully outsource food inspection to state officials, arguing that federal inspectors' efforts are largely superfluous. The outsourcing plan comes as the FDA is reeling from mass firings of support staff that have resulted in the agency hiring contractors to assist with the workload.

"There's so much work to go around. And us duplicating their work just doesn't make sense," a former FDA official who is working on the outsourcing plan anonymously told CBS.

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However, that isn't entirely true: While state officials do conduct food inspections, FDA inspectors have typically handled the bulk of the workload in the past, with only a third of inspections being done exclusively by state-level officials. CBS also reported that state-level inspections are usually "lower-risk" compared to federal food safety inspections.

"In theory, relying on states to do more routine food inspection work could lead to better food safety," Thomas Gremillion, who is director of food policy at the Consumer Federation of America, told CBS. He cautioned, however, that any outsourcing plan would require significant preparation that he doesn't believe the Trump administration is likely to do.

"So far, this administration has acted with reckless disregard for how its policies will affect the detection and prevention of foodborne illness, and any plans to replace federal food inspectors with some other workforce deserves suspicion," he added.

CNN also reported in February that food safety recalls have jumped significantly in recent years, in addition to hospitalizations and deaths from foodborne illness. Several common produce items like cucumbers, onions and carrots were found to have contained deadly pathogens like listeria, salmonella and E. coli, while eggs, deli meat and some nuts were recalled for similar risks.

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Click here to read CBS' report in full.