Govind Tekale
The Food and Drug Administration has suspended its proficiency testing program for Grade “A” milk and dairy products, effective April 21, 2025. This program ensures testing accuracy and consistency across food safety laboratories nationwide.
The suspension comes after the Department of Health and Human Services cut 20,000 jobs across agencies in early April, including positions at the FDA, CDC, and NIH.
“In the meantime, state and federal labs continue to analyze food samples, and FDA remains committed to working with states to protect the safety of the pasteurized milk supply,” an FDA spokesperson told USA TODAY on April 22.
According to an internal FDA email obtained by Reuters, the testing program was halted because the “Moffett Center Proficiency Testing Laboratory is no longer able to provide laboratory support for proficiency testing and data analysis.”
An HHS spokesperson claimed the Moffett lab was scheduled for decommissioning prior to the staff cuts and assured that dairy product testing would continue despite the pause in the proficiency program.
The FDA indicated it was working on alternative approaches for the coming fiscal year and promised to update all participating laboratories when new information becomes available.
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Broader Impact on Food Safety Programs
This milk testing suspension follows other FDA program disruptions, including those that ensured accurate testing for bird flu in dairy products and tracking pathogens like Cyclospora in the food supply.
The changes have raised concerns among consumer advocates. Thomas Gremillion, director of food policy at the Consumer Federation of America, told CBS: “In theory, relying on states to do more routine food inspection work could lead to better food safety. However, this administration has acted with reckless disregard for how its policies will affect the detection and prevention of foodborne illness, and any plans to replace federal food inspectors with some other workforce deserve suspicion.”
Potential Shift to State Oversight
The FDA is reportedly considering reducing routine food safety inspections and shifting more responsibility to state authorities. According to CBS News, this potential plan has been considered under multiple administrations to free up resources for higher-priority inspections.
“There’s so much work to go around. And us duplicating their work just doesn’t make sense,” a former FDA official told CBS.
Currently, the FDA outsources some routine food inspections through contracts with 43 states and Puerto Rico, with approximately one-third of all inspections already conducted at the state level according to a January report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Industry groups, including the Consumer Brands Association and the Food Safety Coalition, have expressed support for greater state involvement in an open letter, noting the additional inspection capacity states provide and their ability to conduct inspections more cost-effectively.
Despite the suspension of the federal proficiency testing program, dairy products continue to undergo regular safety checks through both state regulatory agencies and industry self-monitoring procedures.
