The FDA‘s foreign food inspections have fallen nearly 35% since 2019, agency records show, as a cyclospora outbreak linked to contaminated iceberg lettuce has spread across nine states and left at least 278 people hospitalised, with two deaths reported in Michigan.
The outbreak now covers Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, according to the FDA.
The recall of Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce products was announced on 17 July. FDA inspectors did not arrive at the company’s farm in Guanajuato, Mexico, until mid-August: their first visit to the site since 2019.
FDA foreign food inspections at historic low
Foreign food inspections fell a further 17% last year to 1,140 in fiscal year 2025, down from the prior year. The agency’s all-time high was 1,700 inspections in 2019, itself less than one-tenth of the congressionally mandated target of more than 19,000 international food sites per year, according to the Government Accountability Office.
The pandemic triggered a wave of retirements and departures among FDA inspectors. Staffing cuts and reorganisations under President Donald Trump have compounded the problem, former senior FDA officials say.
‘When you look at the numbers of inspections balanced against the responsibility of the FDA, the agency just can’t achieve what is required,’ said Michael Rogers, who spent nearly 35 years in various inspection roles at the agency. He said FDA continues to do many things ‘very well with limited resources.’
While inspectors were not among the 3,500 jobs the Trump administration targeted for termination, the agency did eliminate more than half the staff who handle travel bookings, leaving inspectors to arrange their own flights and lodging.
One month to reach the Mexican farm
Food safety experts say the four-week delay before inspectors reached the Taylor Farms site was too slow given the scale of the outbreak.
‘It took us too long to get boots on the ground,’ said Frank Yiannas, the former top food safety official at FDA. ‘When these outbreaks happen in fresh produce, you have to respond quickly because these are very complex and changing ecosystems.’
The Taylor Farms recall covered thousands of packaged salad products that were shipped to major US restaurant chains, including Yum Brands, which owns Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC.
In July, regulators were forced to retract a faulty test result they had claimed found cyclospora on a border sample of Taylor Farms’ lettuce. Despite the error, FDA officials say they remain confident the company’s farm is the source of the parasite. Mexican food authorities say they have found no positive samples or other red flags at the site.
A Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said the FDA’s investigation is ongoing.
FDA officials are also studying how many foreign inspections should be conducted annually ‘to ensure oversight comparable’ to the US food supply.
Companies have announced more than 480 food recalls in the current fiscal year, already surpassing four of the five previous years, according to FDA figures.
‘Inspections will never be the only way to ensure the safety of imported products given the massive volume coming into the country,’ said Susan Mayne, FDA’s former food director, now at Yale University. ‘That’s why FDA uses border inspections, importer inspections, sampling and other tools.’
The FDA’s food inspection workforce stands at more than 420 staffers, though 10% to 15% of positions have been chronically unfilled, according to the GAO and former staffers. Inspectors working internationally can spend 50% or more of their working time travelling.
‘Until you can better incentivize people to stay in those positions, I think the agency is going to continue to see high attrition, younger and less experienced investigators,’ Rogers said.
A traceability rule requiring bar codes on each batch of produce (called for under the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act) was due to take effect in January but was again delayed following pushback from industry. The FDA’s outbreak investigation into the iceberg lettuce contamination remains active.
