FDA Food Inspections Stop Due to Ongoing Government Shutdown

Since the government has been experiencing a partial shutdown, many departments have been in limbo. One of these departments is the FDA.

The Food and Drug Administration have stopped most food inspections, but say that they will resume a few of them. All the workers, along with many other government officials, are working without pay. These annoyed workers would be forced to do these inspections.

FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb is trying to figure which inspection is the most important, in order to cut the unpaid workers some slack. In an interview with NBC News, Gottlieb said, “There’s no question of whether it’s business as usual at FDA. It’s not business as usual, and we are not doing all the things we would do under normal circumstances. There are important things we are not doing.”

Though companies are still having their own inspections of their products, the FDA not checking them for salmonella, E. Coli, etc. is really unnerving. A ton of illness-causing bacteria could potentially go undetected, and could make people really sick. Gottlieb also added, “We’re doing everything we can to try to maintain our basic consumer protection role. That’s our focus.”

The FDA is also still doing recalls, for example they are still recalling the Romaine lettuce, due to the discovery of E.Coli bacteria.

Student Colette Albertson says, “It’s really scary. The fact that the chance of the food in supermarkets being infected is bigger than ever is nerve-racking. I’m not really sure what is safe or not.”

To see other affects the government shutdown is having, check out my other article here.