CFS: A Government Shutdown Would Dangerously Hinder Food Safety

CFS call on the Trump Administration to make food safety an essential service WASHINGTON—Today is the deadline for government funding approval. As government agencies brace for a shutdown, Congress holds food safety in their hands. In response, Jaydee Hanson, senior policy analyst for Center for Food Safety issued the following statement: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversees roughly 80 percent of the country’s food supply. In the last big government shutdown (2013), FDA told more than half of its inspectors to stay home. Already, FDA lacks enough inspectors to monitor all of the produce that the US produces and imports. Cutting inspectors would mean that they would not do plant inspections, which are already too infrequent, during this period, The Center for Disease Control (CDC) tracks foodborne illness. Cutting CDC staff means staff will miss early indications of the next E.coli, salmonella, or listeria outbreaks. People might actually die for lack of government action warning them of contaminated food. We call on the Trump Administration to make food safety an essential service and bring all food safety personnel to work in the case of a shutdown.