– NOTICE –
Donald Trump and his acolyte, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., promised to “make America again healthy”.
They lied.
- RFK Jr. dismissed each member of the FDA media communication team, including its director.
- The budget proposed in 2026 for the FDA describes the plans to move responsibility for routine food security inspections to the states.
- The FDA 2026 budget also offers a global reduction in the full -time equivalent endowment for the 7.6%human food program, the 2.0%reduced investigation and inspections office, and laboratory operations in the field of 54.4%.
The FDA staff cuts have already put the brakes on the agency’s ability to trace the source of epidemics of foods of food origin. In 2024, the agency investigated a total of 26 epidemics and identified the source of 20 (77%). In 2025, the FDA closed its survey of 11 epidemics after identifying the source of only 4 (36%); 11 additional surveys remain investigation, a source of food having been identified in four (36%).
The CDC has reduced its active monitoring of pathogens of food origin of six target organizations only two, claiming the lack of funding.
RFK, Jr. and Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins proposed to allow the flipping birds to “tear” the infected poultry herds instead of shooting the herds to avoid spreading more.
The USDA withdrew its proposed rule according to which, for the first time, would have set limits (very indulgent) on the presence of some Salmonella Strains in raw poultry.
Staff cuts to the health and plant health and plant inspection service has reduced the agency’s ability to combat cattle diseases, including bird flu.
The US Unit of the Ministry of Justice which was used to manage food security and security cases on behalf of the FDA has been dissolved.
What can we expect from consumers following these roll-backs?
- More diseases of food origin, including more hospitalizations and deaths
- More epidemics are not reported and not resolved
- Inconsistent food security inspection standards from one state to another
I have been a microbiologist of food security for over 50 years. I worked both in the government and in the private sector.
Throughout my career, I pleaded for a single agency to supervise food security – an agency having a representation at the level of the firm which would replace the current fragmented regulation system in the United States.
But desperate times require desperate measures. The federal government does not do its job. He also does not plan in the future.
States can …and must-act
The various states that have the resources necessary to do so must take measures to protect their populations against federal government failures.
The West Coast Alliance is made up of California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii. The Northeast Public Health Collaborative includes New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine and Rhode Island, as well as the New York Health Department.
If a state government can replace federal recommendations on access to vaccines, the state can also overlap its own regulations on food security to people transmitted by the FDA and the USDA to protect its population from foods of food.
I propose that the West Coast Alliance will be extended to include food security, including the following actions:
- Develop and implement a common set of inspection standards for processed products and foods from California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii.
- Embargo All shipments of processed products and foods from outside the borders of its Member States unless each individual shipment is accompanied by an analysis certificate issued by an accredited laboratory.
- Regulate the flow rates emanating from the food operations of concentrated animals (CAFO) in the Member States – a discharge which pollutes the soil in which crops are cultivated and the water used to irrigate these crops.
I do not suggest that these actions will be easy or inexpensive. But, as the federal government no longer seems to be interested in protecting the public from dangerous food, states that can do so must take over.
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