The FDA’s inspection system just got a major shock after massive layoffs triggered by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The agency is now scrambling to hire contractors to fill gaps left by fired staffers who once supported food and drug safety inspections.
Although inspectors are still technically on the job, the staff who coordinated their international travel, tested food for contamination, and issued recalls have been let go. The agency is outsourcing travel logistics and other duties to keep inspections moving — a shift critics call not only inefficient but downright dangerous.
The union representing FDA staff called it a “significant risk to human life.” Even before these cuts, the FDA was still doing 36% fewer inspections than before COVID, and with roles gutted in places like the San Francisco lab and Chicago Food Processing Division, entire areas of scientific expertise may disappear altogether.
Click play to listen to the report from AURN White House Correspondent Ebony McMorris. For more news, follow @E_N_McMorris & @aurnonline.
