After years of discussion, the Food and Drug Administration may shift responsibility for routine food safety inspection to the states. While industry and food safety experts say it's a logical move, there are notable outstanding questions about how to execute such a change.
In a leaked version of the Trump administration’s budget priorities for the Department of Health and Human Services, one provision calls for eliminating FDA’s role in routine food facility inspection. Instead, it suggests expanding state contracts to provide all inspection.
There have been discussions about such a delegation for years but even those close to the matter were surprised to see the provision included in the Office of Management and Budget document.
“For it to move suddenly to announcement stage, it was very surprising and it would seem to indicate that there’s still a lot of details that need to be ironed out,” said Brian Ronholm, director of food policy at Consumer Reports and a former USDA food safety official.
Steve Mandernach, executive director of the Association of Food and Drug Officials, called it a “logical next step. I think you have to take it seriously.”
He said shifting inspections to the states would be in line with other Trump administration actions to outsource federal agency work.
Mandernach said there’s been apprehension about giving states more responsibility in a national food safety system. But many states are completing inspections considered equivalent to FDA’s.
Most states already conduct at least some food safety inspections on behalf of FDA through cooperative agreements. FDA relies on states for 50% of food manufacturer inspection, 70% of animal food inspection and 90% of produce inspection. Retail, restaurant and grocery inspection are state responsibility.
States can conduct inspection at lower cost than federal inspectors, in part because state inspectors have less distance to travel. State inspectors also can visit facilities more often and are more likely to build closer relationships with companies.
State inspection of produce safety has worked well, Mandernach believes.
The move would make food inspection similar to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, where states oversee most day-to-day work with federal funding and technical support
Questions about details remain
One question is about expertise. FDA inspectors are typically trained to do multiple kinds of inspections from medical devices, pharmaceutical plants and all things under FDA’s jurisdiction.
While it needs to be specified that nonfood inspection would remain at the federal level, having states handle all food inspection could offer potentially increased expertise, Ronholm said.
Brian Ronholm (Photo by Consumer Reports)
Roberta Wagner, senior vice president of regulatory and scientific affairs at the International Dairy Foods Association, said FDA in the past has discussed focusing on foreign food facility inspections while leaving domestic food facilities to states. FDA would then play an oversight role and train inspectors. She compared this to the National Conference of Interstate Milk Shippers, where FDA certifies inspectors and conducts routine audits. Wagner added that in recent conversations with FDA, leaders have made clear they want to do more on food safety, not less.
She said one of the biggest gaps now is having enough trained inspectors. States and federal agencies struggle to recruit and retain inspectors.
Wagner said companies want FDA’s stamp of approval on food safety programs. But she said the agency has struggled to achieve benchmarks in the Food Safety Modernization Act.
The agency has not met mandated targets for domestic and international food safety inspections since 2018, according to a Government Accountability Office report released earlier this year.
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Wagner suggested responsibilities could be split where FDA reviews and approves food safety programs while state inspectors ensure those programs are being implemented.
Shifting inspection responsibility to states cannot happen in a vacuum, Mandernach said, but needs to include management of inventory inspections, consumer complaints and recalls.
Ronholm said one big concern would be the potentially inconsistent quality of state programs.
“When it comes to food safety inspections, some states are very, very strong,” Ronholm said. “But others, it's pretty much a skeleton program. So that would be an area of concern, is what will be going on in those states, especially if there is a significant presence of food manufacturing in that state, where there is a big need for a robust program, and it doesn't exist.”
Even with responsibilities shifted to states, Ronholm said robust federal oversight would be necessary. Recent staffing cuts could interfere with that oversight, he said.
Adequate funding and trust between states and the FDA are also potential challenges.
Starting in the last administration, FDA began warning states to prepare for a cut in the funds they’ve received for about 10 years. The loss was estimated at an effective $34 million a year.
As the consequences of those cuts have begun to take shape, states are preparing for cuts between 40 to 60% in FDA cooperative agreements.
As a result, some states are considering cutting staff. Others are considering whether they can afford to continue some food safety programs in the wake of the cuts, says one industry source.
If FDA does plan to shift more responsibility to the states, they need to put out those details soon, the source said.
Wagner said states must conduct quality inspection and hire and train the right people.
“There's got to be money,” Wagner said. “This isn’t about cost cutting. … If you do it right, I don’t see it saving money.”
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