Tag: politics

FDA is now a black box

The FDA communications teams have been trashed by the Trump administration. Likewise, the Freedom of Informaction Act (FOIA) response teams and policy teams.

What does this mean for public health and food safety?

Siobhan DeLancey, a 21-year veteran of the FDA, who for the last several years managed communications for the agency’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM), didn’t mince words in her recent Opinion piece in Food Safety News.

There will be no more safety alerts, no bird flu updates, no information detailing what we’re doing about PFAS. No leverage to spur a recalcitrant company to do the right thing. No news about pesticides or antimicrobial use.

She went on to say,

[G]ood luck relying on a timely response to your FOIA request to reveal the inner working of the agency or gleaning information from the Federal Register. Guidances for Industry on how to comply with the law? Doubt you’ll see many in the next four years, and even if one gets through deregulation, how will you know?

On April 22, 2025, pet food safety advocate, Sue Thixton, reported in Truth About Pet Food that a pet owner had arranged for two samples of Answers Pet Food to be tested for the presence of gentamicin by an independent laboratory.

Gentamicin is an antibiotic whose use is discouraged in cattle due to its long retention time in animal tissue. The US Federal Register does not cite a permitted level of gentamicin in beef tissue. Canada lists a maximum residue limit of 0.1 parts per million (ppm) in muscle of cattle.

One of the samples—ANSWERS PET FOOD STRAIGHT BEEF—was found by the lab to contain 320.6 ppm of gentamicin. The second sample—Answers Pet Food Detailed Beef—contained 76.2 ppm.

According to Thixton’s post, multiple pets became very ill, but survived. She added, “It is unknown if a recall will be issued on these products.”

The following day, Answers Pet Food posted a multi-paragraph rebuttal on its Facebook page, calling the pet owner’s claim “baseless.”

Why is this story relevant?

Prior to January 22, 2025, when Trump took office, it would have been possible to contact the CVM communications team by email or phone, find out whether or not the agency was aware of the situation and, if necessary, point them to the posted report.

On several occasions in the past, eFoodAlert has done exactly that, with the result that a problem of which the CVM was previously unaware became flagged for follow-up.

One such occasion was the concern raised by multiple pet owners early in 2024 about Purina pet foods.

Now this avenue no longer exists.

There is no longer any way of communicating informally with the CVM or with other areas within the FDA.

There is no longer any way of learning in a timely fashion whether the CVM knows about this incident.

Even if the CVM investigates and discovers a problem, unless the company recalls the product, there will be no alert to consumers, because there is no one left to write the notice.

While it may still be possible to submit a Freedom of Information Act request to learn whether other pet owners have reported similary issues or whether there was an inspection of the manufacturing facility, the chances of receiving a timely response to such a request have dropped to nil, due to lack of personnel.

A final word

I have had dealings with Siobhan DeLancey and various other members of the FDA’s communications teams for almost two decades. I have always found them to be professional, thoroughly invested in the importance of their work, and eager to furnish whatever information and explanations permitted within the bounds of confidentiality requirements.

Without the assistance of Siobhan and her colleagues, and without the work of the FOIA teams, I never would have been able to research and write my two food safety books.

I shall leave the final word to Siobhan (again, from her Food Safety News piece):

We should all be frightened when the ability to communicate is taken away. The administration has become braver about suing or otherwise intimidating news media that run stories counter to its narrative. Now, it’s muzzling its own public servants. How long before it comes for you?

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


“A complete and compelling account of the hidden and not-so-hidden ways the food we give our beloved pets can be contaminated.” – JoNel Aleccia, Health Reporter, Food & Nutrition, The Associated Press.

“An invaluable resource for busy pet owners” – Food Safety News

Order TOXIC now from your preferred on-line retailer

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