Make America (un)Healthy Again

March 27, 2025

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced this morning that 10,000 permanent jobs would be cut from the agencies under its control, including the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The new cuts are in addition to the 10,000 people already fired or bought out through early retirement packages.

The combined cuts has reduced the workforce of HHS by almost 25%.

The cuts are to be accompanied by a consolidation of the department’s various divisions from 28 down to 15.

What is being cut

The largest reduction will be felt at the FDA, which will lose an additional 3500 full-time employees out of what had been a workforce of approximately 18,000 people under the Biden administration.

The CDC will lose an additional 2400 employees, and the NIH will lose 1200.

According to the Fact Sheet accompanying the news release, “The consolidation and cuts are designed not only to save money, but to make the organization more efficient and more responsive to Americans’ needs, and to implement the Make America Healthy Again goal of ending the chronic disease epidemic.”

What does this mean for food safety?

The goal of ending the chronic disease epidemic is laudable, and a review of the safety of food additives, artificial colors, and other non-essential ingredients is long overdue.

However, the FDA is being tasked with undertaking a major new program while at the same time digesting a major reduction in workforce.

Something’s got to give.

So far, there have been no specifics given as to what personnel will be cut within the FDA. Will it be laboratory services? Inspection staff? Research teams?

Just the latest in a series of questionable actions

The US food safety and disease prevention systems are under attack. Consider this partial list:

RFK, Jr., the HHS Secretary, has suggested allowing the bird flu epidemic to run its course in order to identify immune birds. He’s had some support from the Secretary of Agriculture for this approach. The virus already has jumped from poultry to dairy cattle and to a myriad of small mammals (including domestic and farm cats). Imagine the increased opportunity for mutations if the virus is allowed to spread unchecked.
RFK, Jr. encouraged the use of cod liver oil or vitamin A supplements as an alternative to vaccination to prevent the spread of measles, taking out of context studies conducted in low-income countries where vitamin A deficiency is common. As a result, doctors in Texas are encountering children suffering from vitamin A overdoses.
The NIH is ending grants for Covid-19 research, including the development of antiviral drugs.
The US government has arranged to purchase eggs from Turkey in order to bring down the price of eggs in the US, even though Turkey has a documented high level of Salmonella and bird flu contamination in its eggs, thus exposing US consumers to increased risk of infection with these pathogens.
The US government has terminated 60 federal grants to universities in support of HIV research.
The CDC has pulled $11 billion in funding to state and local health departments across the US. The funds were earmarked for Covid testing, vaccination, and related programs.
The NIH is terminating grants for programs to study vaccine hesitancy and to encourage vaccine uptake. This is directly in line with RFK, Jr.’s widely publicized vaccine skepticism.
The Trump administration has withdrawn from the World Health Organization and has terminated USAID programs that funded vaccination efforts in third-world countries.

And there will be more to come. While claiming to attack chronic diseases, the actions taken so far are making the US population more susceptible to the spread of acute illnesses. If this keeps up, I predict a noticeable rise in child mortality rates and infectious disease outbreaks across the USA.

TAINTED formats 3 — “Reads like a true crime novel” – Food Safety News

Interested in learning more about food safety and the history of foodborne disease outbreaks and investigations?

Click on the link to listen to a short excerpt, then follow the buy links to add a digital, print or audio copy to your personal library.

Chapter 6. Birth of a Pathogen

Order TAINTED now from your preferred on-line retailer

“US importing millions of eggs from Turkey”—This won’t end well, folks

The dysfunctional Trump administration, in its infinite lack of wisdom, has decided to import eggs from Turkey as a stop-gap measure.

Has anyone at the USDA or the FDA considered the contamination rates of H5N1 (bird flu), Salmonella, and other pathogens in Turkish eggs?

I thought not.

To be clear, Vladimir Putin tried this a little over a year ago, with disastrous results.

Russia decided to import eggs from Turkey in order to address an egg “crisis” caused by high inflation and Western sanctions triggered by Russia’s war on Ukraine.

According to a January 2024 story in Newsweek, more than 20% of the 19.4-ton batch of Turkish eggs imported into Russia on January 3, 2024, was contaminated with the H5N1 (bird flu) virus and/or Salmonella.

This was not an isolated incident. A 2022 study of shell eggs in Turkey found Salmonella in 12% of free-range eggs, 10% of cage-free eggs, and 12% of eggs from caged birds.

In contrast, the generally acknowledged overall incidence of Salmonella in US eggs is 1:20,000 (0.005%).

I usually try to avoid predictions; however, don’t be surprised if there is a sudden rash of egg-associated Salmonella outbreaks over the next few months.

Interested in learning more about food safety and the history of foodborne disease outbreaks and investigations?

Click on the link to listen to a short excerpt, then follow the buy links to add a digital, print or audio copy to your personal library.

Chapter 6. Birth of a Pathogen

Order TAINTED now from your preferred on-line retailer

FDA stonewalls on source of deadly 2024 romaine lettuce outbreak

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has declined to identify the source of E. coli O157:H7-contaminated romaine lettuce that sickened 89 people across 15 states in November 2024.

Seven of the outbreak victims developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), and one person died. Thirty-six individuals were hospitalized.

Outbreak cases were reported from Arkansas (2), Colorado (1), Illinois (7), Indiana (8), Kansas (1), Kentucky (1), Missouri (50), Montana (1), North Dakota (2), Nebraska (3), Ohio (8), Pennsylvania (1), South Dakota (1), Tennessee (1), and Wisconsin (2).

Information about the outbreak investigation was obtained from the FDA in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by eFoodAlert.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identified seven subclusters in the multistate outbreak, including events linked to a Missouri-based caterer, and Ohio school, an Indiana restaurant, an Illinois restaurant, and an Illinois event catered by a different Missouri-based caterer.

Ninety-five percent (95%) of victims who responded to questionnaires reported consuming leafy greens prior to illness. Romaine lettuce was consumed by 88% of the outbreak victims who were able to remember the exact type of leafy green consumed.

The FDA was notified of the outbreak by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on November 25, 2024. Traceback investigations by the FDA ultimately identified a single processor and a single grower as the source of Romaine lettuce supplied to all of the events that formed part of the outbreak.

What FDA found

On January 15, 2025, the FDA’s Coordinated Outbreak Response and Evaluation (CORE) team supplied the following traceback summary to the CDC:

A traceback investigation was initiated in response to a E. coli O157 outbreak with leafy greens as the suspected vehicle. Each case included in the traceback investigation reported consumption of leafy greens prior to illness onset. Based on information available at the points of service (POS), the traceback focused on iceberg and romaine lettuce. The investigation consisted of [redacted] traceback legs representing twenty-eight cases and [redacted] POS. The [redacted] traceback legs identified [redacted] distribution centers, [redacted] broker, [redacted] processors, [redacted] grower, and [redacted] ranch. The traceback investigation determined that a sole processor sourced romaine lettuce from [redacted] grower that would have been available at all points of service during the timeframe of interest. Additionally, romaine lettuce supplied to [redacted] POS was traced back to a common ranch and lot. Through analysis of records, [redacted] lot of romaine lettuce were implicated, resulting in confirmation of romaine lettuce as the vehicle.

The following traceback diagram included in the full CORE report illustrates the supply chain involved in the outbreak.

During the course of its investigtion, the FDA collected a total of twelve (12) environmental and water samples, but did not recover the outbreak strain from any of them.

The CORE report does not indicate whether the samples were collected at the grower or at the processor of the romaine lettuce.

Information withheld

The FOIA request filed by eFoodAlert sought “complete CORE investigation report and any documents related to this outbreak investigation, including Establishment Inspection Report(s), FDA Form 483(s), if issued, results of lab analyses, correspondence between FDA and CDC relating to this investigation.”

We received ONLY the CORE investigation Executive Summary and two emails.

We did NOT receive the requested results of lab analyses.

We did NOT receive a copy of any Establishment Inspection Report (either for the grower or the processor), which would have provided the identity of the establishment(s).

According to the CORE report, no [adverse] observations were noted (ie., no FDA Form 483 issued).

The CDC never posted a public notice for this outbreak.

The FDA chose not to release the name of the grower or the processor because “…there was no product remaining in commerce.”

Why this matters

The victims of this outbreak have a right to know the source of the product that made them ill, and have the right to seek compensation.

The restaurants and caterers who purchased the produce deserve to know the source of the contaminated romaine lettuce so that the can choose to use different suppliers in future.

Finally, deterrence is—or should be—a weapon in the food safety arsenal. If a grower, processor, or manufacturer of any food product knows that they will be identified by name in the event that their product is the source of a foodborne disease outbreak, they will be more likely to take steps to avoid supplying contaminated product to the public.

Interested in learning more about food safety and the history of foodborne disease outbreaks and investigations?

Click on the link to listen to a short excerpt, then follow the buy links to add a digital, print or audio copy to your personal library.

Chapter 6. Birth of a Pathogen

Order TAINTED now from your preferred on-line retailer