You probably check an expiration date, rinse your produce and get on with dinner. The work that catches the problems you cannot see happens far out of view. Most of the time, you never think about it.
That work is being done by far fewer people. Federal food safety agencies have shed thousands of workers since the Trump administration's cuts began in January 2025.
WBUR's Here & Now returned to the subject on October 1, 2026, with Politico food and agriculture reporter Marcia Brown walking through the cumulative impact one year in.
Across the three main food safety agencies, the numbers are stark. Food Safety Magazine reports the FDA has lost 4,332 employees since January 2025. The CDC has lost 2,889.
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At the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, which inspects the nation's meat and poultry, 913 inspectors and support staff have left over the same period.
The departures came through a hiring freeze, early retirement offers, layoffs and a Deferred Resignation Program. Many of those who left were veteran staff with advanced degrees.
What the FDA cut inside its own labs
Many of the FDA's lost positions sat inside the food safety machine itself. In April 2025, the agency laid off about 2,500 people, including staff in the Human Foods Program and scientists at a San Francisco Bay Area lab that tests food for bacteria, TIME reported at the time.
The cuts also stalled a program designed to keep food testing accurate across the country. The FDA's Food Emergency Response Network runs proficiency tests for about 170 labs that check food for pathogens and contaminants.
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After losing a quality assurance officer, an analytical chemist and two microbiologists at its Moffett Center, the FDA suspended that program, Insurance Journal reported in April 2025.
Planned checks for the parasite Cyclospora in spinach and the pesticide glyphosate in barley were put on hold.
Fewer eyes on the pathogens that make people sick
The surveillance side has shrunk too. The CDC's Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network, known as FoodNet, is the system that spots trends in foodborne illness and helps trigger recalls.
As of July 1, 2025, FoodNet actively tracks only two pathogens, Salmonella and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, Food Safety Magazine reported.
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Six pathogens dropped out of active tracking. They are Campylobacter, Cyclospora, Listeria, Shigella, Vibrio and Yersinia.
A CDC spokesperson said funding "has not kept pace with the resources required to maintain the continuation of FoodNet surveillance for all eight pathogens."
Listeria stands out on that dropped list. It is one of the deadliest foodborne pathogens and has been behind recent recalls of ready-to-eat meats and frozen foods.
Craig Hedberg, a professor at the University of Minnesota, has said FoodNet is the foundation of the US food safety system and needs more investment, not less.
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What this changes for a shopper
For a shopper, the shift shows up in two slower moments. How quickly a new outbreak is spotted, and how quickly a tainted product leaves the shelves.
Fewer microbiologists in federal labs and fewer pathogens under active surveillance mean fewer early warnings. Smaller communications teams at both the FDA and CDC mean recall notices and consumer alerts can take longer to reach the public.
The practical steps in a home kitchen have not changed. Cook meat, poultry and eggs to safe temperatures. Keep raw produce away from ready-to-eat foods. Check the FDA's recall notices page before serving items you bought in the past few weeks.
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This article is made and published by Aksel Kryhlmand, who may have used AI in the preparation.