**Summary: U.S. Foreign Food Facility Inspections Reach Historic Lows Amid Staffing Cuts and Policy Changes**
American inspections of foreign food facilities, which produce a significant portion of the food consumed in the United States, have declined to their lowest levels in years, according to a ProPublica analysis of federal data. This decline comes at a time when Americans rely more than ever on imported food—over 90% of seafood and more than half of fresh fruit in the U.S. is imported. The drop in inspections has raised alarm among food safety experts and former officials, especially as recent inspections have uncovered troubling conditions in overseas factories supplying the U.S. market.
**Alarming Findings and Growing Risks**
Foreign food facilities inspected by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have been linked to several foodborne illness outbreaks. Inspectors have documented serious issues: workers at an Indonesian cookie factory used dirty buckets, seafood processors in China worked with cracked and stained equipment, and several facilities falsified testing data to claim their products were pathogen-free. Reports of crawling insects, leaking pipes, and inadequate sanitation have been frequent.
The risk posed by these lapses is significant. Contaminated food imports can lead to outbreaks in the U.S., as evidenced by recent cases involving berries from Mexico and soy protein powder from China. For instance, an inspection at a Chinese soy protein manufacturer found live insects in production areas, dirty water dripping into ingredients, and falsified safety records. Despite these findings, limited resources meant the FDA could only censure the company and request corrective actions, rather than conduct follow-up inspections to ensure compliance.
**Declining Inspections: Causes and Consequences**
The sharp decrease in foreign inspections can be traced back to major staffing cuts made during the Trump administration. About 65% of staff in the FDA’s divisions managing travel and budgets for overseas inspections either left or were let go, ostensibly as a move toward government efficiency. The loss of these support workers forced remaining investigators to handle logistics themselves—booking travel, securing visas, and managing expenses—distracting them from their primary inspection duties and causing reimbursement backlogs of over $1 million.
The cuts also triggered a wave of retirements among senior investigators, further depleting the FDA’s expertise. As a result, the agency lost roughly 20% of its workforce responsible for ensuring food and drug safety. The loss of support staff and experienced inspectors has severely undermined the FDA’s ability to maintain adequate oversight of the massive global food supply chain.
Susan Mayne, former director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, voiced deep concern. She noted that the staff reductions have crippled an already overstretched agency that was working to improve pay and training to attract and retain investigators.
**Policy Rollbacks and Reduced Surveillance**
The decline in inspections has coincided with other measures that have weakened the U.S. food safety net. In March, the FDA delayed implementing a rule intended to speed up the removal of dangerous products