The Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) has developed infographics that illustrate the potential impact that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) proposed budget cuts could have on food safety at the state level. In its FY25 budget proposal, FDA has proposed cutting resources to state and local programs by $34 million, from over $117 million to $83 million.
The infographics can be viewed here:
AFDO also shared an infographic from the Association of Public Health Laboratories showing the potential impact on laboratory operations that can be viewed here.
“AFDO believes this will decimate the ability of state and local programs to continue this level of partnership and greatly reduce the activity of food protection provided by these front-line programs,” AFDO said in a statement in its newsletter. “… State and local food safety agencies collaborate with FDA while conducting food processing, produce and retail inspections. They also perform vital roles of education and outreach for the necessary prevention-focused infrastructure of an integrated food safety system that is required by the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). They assist in identifying potential illness outbreaks, investigating illnesses and effectuating product removals through recalls. FDA often requests the use of state authority to expedite product recalls and removals, closures, embargoes and similar actions. State laboratories conduct a significant portion of all food sampling used for compliance verification and FDA-related food research.”
