But most people have never heard about this outbreak, which a Feb. 11 internal FDA memo<\/a> linked to a single lettuce processor and ranch as the source of the contamination. In what many experts said was a break with common practice, officials never issued public communications after the investigation or identified the grower who produced the lettuce.<\/p>\n From failing to publicize a major outbreak to scaling back safety alert specialists and rules, the Trump administration\u2019s anti-regulatory and cost-cutting push risks unraveling a critical system that helps ensure the safety of the U.S. food supply, according to consumer advocates, researchers and former employees at the FDA and U.S. Department of Agriculture.<\/p>\n The investigation into the illnesses began near the end of the Biden administration but work on the lettuce outbreak wasn\u2019t completed until Feb. 11. At that time, the decision was made by the Trump administration not to release the names of the grower and processor because the FDA said no product remained on the market.<\/p>\n The administration also has withdrawn a proposed regulation<\/a> to reduce the presence of salmonella in raw poultry, according to an April USDA alert<\/a>. It was projected to save more than $13 million annually by preventing more than 3,000 illnesses, according to the proposal<\/a>.<\/p>\n Officials from the Department of Health and Human Services have said that food safety is a priority, and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said in an April 29 interview with the newsletter Inside Medicine<\/a> that the recent job cuts would not affect agency operations.<\/p>\n \u201cThe FDA had 9,500 employees in 2007. Last year it was nearly 19,000. Has the 100% increase in employees increased approval times, innovation, AI, food safety, or agency morale?\u201d Makary asked. \u201cNo, it hasn\u2019t. In fact, it\u2019s increased regulatory creep.\u201d<\/p>\n The FDA referred questions to HHS, which declined to comment or make Makary available for an interview. In a statement, the agency said \u201cprotecting public health and insuring food safety remain top priorities for HHS. FDA inspectors were not impacted [by job cuts] and this critical work will continue.\u201d<\/p>\n Public health advocates warn companies and growers will face less regulatory oversight and fewer consequences for selling tainted food products as a result of recent FDA actions.<\/p>\n The administration is disbanding a Justice Department unit that pursues civil and criminal actions against companies that sell contaminated food and is reassigning its attorneys. Some work will be assumed by other divisions, according to a publicly posted memo from the head of the department\u2019s criminal division and a white paper by the law firm Gibson Dunn.<\/p>\n The Justice Department did not respond to an email requesting comment.<\/p>\n \u201cThey need the DOJ to enforce the law,\u201d said Sarah Sorscher, director of regulatory affairs at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group. \u201cFor an executive investing in food safety, the knowledge they could go to jail if they don\u2019t is a really strong motivator.\u201d<\/p>\n Federal regulators also want states to conduct more inspections, according to two former FDA officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation. But some Democratic lawmakers say states lack the resources to take over most food safety inspections.<\/p>\n \u201cHanding that duty to state and local agencies is really troubling,\u201d said Rep. Shontel M. Brown (D-Ohio). \u201cThey don\u2019t have the resources, and it creates a potentially unsafe situation that puts families in Ohio and America at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n The High Cost of Foodborne Illnesses<\/strong><\/p>\n Foodborne illnesses exact a major economic toll in the United States, according to federal data, and cost thousands of lives each year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates the deaths, chronic illness, medical treatment, and lost productivity from food-related illnesses amounted to $75 billion in 2023.<\/p>\n Each year, about 48 million people in the U.S. get sick with foodborne illnesses, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a>.<\/p>\n In its first few months, the administration has suspended a program known as the Food Emergency Response Network Proficiency Testing that ensures food-testing labs accurately identify pathogens that can sicken or kill, according to a former FDA official.<\/p>\n In March, the agency said it would delay from January 2026 to July 2028 compliance with a Biden-era rule that aims to speed up the identification and removal of potentially contaminated food from the market.<\/p>\n However, the FDA is taking aim at foreign food manufacturing, saying in a May 6 notice that it would expand unannounced inspections<\/a> overseas. \u201cThis expanded approach marks a new era in FDA enforcement \u2014 stronger, smarter, and unapologetically in support of the public health and safety of Americans,\u201d the notice said.<\/p>\n Some former FDA and USDA officials said that goal isn\u2019t realistic, because U.S. inspectors often need to obtain travel visas that can wind up alerting companies to their arrival.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really, really difficult to do surprise inspections,\u201d said Brian Ronholm, director of food policy for Consumer Reports and a former USDA deputy undersecretary for food safety. \u201cThe visa process can alert the local authority.\u201d<\/p>\n HHS declined to address Ronholm\u2019s concerns.<\/p>\n The FDA hasn\u2019t met the mandated targets for inspecting food facilities in the U.S. since fiscal year 2018, and the agency has consistently fallen short of meeting its annual targets for foreign inspections, according to a January report<\/a> by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.<\/p>\n Foodborne illness can turn serious. Salmonella bacteria in cucumbers sickened dozens of people<\/a>\u00a0in April and May and left at least nine people hospitalized, according to the FDA. A 2008-09 salmonella outbreak involving peanut butter killed nine<\/a>, resulting in criminal charges against company executives. And\u00a0<\/a>E. coli <\/a><\/em>in cookie dough <\/a>sickened more than 70 people in 2009, including a Nevada mother who died of complications from eating the raw dough.<\/p>\n \u2018Life or Death for Our Son\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n E. coli<\/em>, commonly found in feces, can be especially dangerous to children like Colton, the boy from Avon, Indiana, who ate contaminated lettuce. The bacteria can damage blood vessels and cause clots that destroy the kidneys, leading to strokes and comas. Consumers sickened by E. coli<\/em> can pass it along to others, and, in some cases, the bacteria end up killing victims who never consumed the contaminated food.<\/p>\n By the time Colton\u2019s mother brought him to the emergency room that November day, the bacteria were releasing toxins and damaging his blood cells and kidneys, according to his father, Chris George.<\/p>\n Colton was sent to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. Chris said doctors told him and his wife, Amber George, that their son was in kidney failure and the next 24 to 72 hours would determine whether he would survive, the father recalled.<\/p>\n \u201cThey said it was life or death for our son, and I was like, wait, he was just playing basketball,\u201d said Chris, a firefighter. \u201cI told them, \u2018You do what you need to do to save my son.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Usually, the FDA alerts the public and identifies growers and food manufacturers when there are outbreaks like the one that sickened Colton. The FDA said in its February internal summary that the grower wasn\u2019t named because no product remained on the market.<\/p>\n But Bill Marler, a Seattle lawyer who specializes in food-safety litigation and represents the George family, said the information is still important because it can prevent more cases, pressure growers to improve sanitation, and identify repeat offenders.<\/p>\n It also gives victims an explanation for their illnesses and helps them determine whom they might take legal action against, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cNormally we would see the information on their websites,\u201d Marler said, adding that the agency\u2019s investigatory findings on the outbreak were \u201call redacted\u201d and he obtained them through a Freedom of Information Act request.<\/p>\n The FDA, USDA, and CDC play central roles in overseeing food safety, including inspections and investigations. The FDA and CDC have been rocked by job cuts that are part of a reduction of 20,000 staff at HHS, their parent agency. The Agriculture Department has also shrunk its workforce.<\/p>\n Staffing cuts mean delays in publicizing deadly outbreaks, said Susan Mayne, an adjunct professor at Yale School of Public Health who retired from the FDA in 2023.<\/p>\n \u201cConsumers are being notified with delays about important food safety notifications,\u201d she said, referring to a recent outbreak in cucumbers. \u201cPeople can die if there are pathogens like listeria, which can have a 30% fatality rate.\u201d<\/p>\n Makary has said the cuts wouldn\u2019t touch inspectors, reviewers, or scientists<\/a> at the agency.<\/p>\n But the FDA laid off scientists in April who worked at food safety labs in Chicago and San Francisco, where they performed specialized analysis for food inspectors, former FDA officials said. The FDA later restored some positions.<\/p>\n \u201cNo scientists were fired? That was incorrect,\u201d Mayne said.<\/p>\n Siobhan DeLancey, who worked in the agency\u2019s Office of Foods and Veterinary Medicine for more than 20 years before she also was laid off in April, said new requirements for reviewing agency announcements became so arduous that it took weeks to get approval for alerts that should have been going out much sooner.<\/p>\n She said some employees who were laid off include communications specialists and web staff who do consumer outreach aimed at preventing illness. The USDA and FDA have been bringing some workers back<\/a> or are asking some who accepted deferred resignations to take back their decisions.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all about destruction and not about efficiency,\u201d DeLancey said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to see the effects for years. It will cost lives.\u201d<\/p>\n HHS did not respond to an email seeking a response to DeLancey\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n For 13 days, Colton stayed on dialysis at the hospital, initially unable to eat or drink. His mother wet a sponge to moisten his lips and tongue.<\/p>\n He turned 10 in the hospital. Chris George bought paint markers to make signs on the windows of his son\u2019s room.<\/p>\n \u201cI am not happy with the CDC and FDA,\u201d Chris George said. \u201cVictims have a right to know who made them sick. This is my kid. He\u2019s my life.\u201d<\/p>\n Colton was able to leave the hospital almost three weeks after first eating the contaminated lettuce but still has nightmares about the ordeal and is seeing a therapist.<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole \u2018Make America Healthy Again,\u2019 the focus on taking food color dyes out of cereal?\u201d said Chris George, who objects to the Trump administration\u2019s decision to redact information about the grower in the February report. \u201cHow about we take E. coli<\/em> out of our lettuce, so it doesn\u2019t kill our kids?\u201d<\/p>\n KFF Health News<\/a> is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF\u2014an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF<\/a>.<\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1134489557-resized-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/George_02_sq-web-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\nUSE OUR CONTENT<\/h3>\n