The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has suspended a quality control program for testing milk and other dairy products due to a significant number of job cuts within its food safety and nutrition division.
According to Reuters, an internal email from the FDA’s Division of Dairy Safety said the proficiency testing program for Grade “A” raw milk and finished products had been suspended effective Monday, April 21.
The suspension comes after 20,000 employees from the Department of Health and Human Services were terminated or offered early retirement, which includes the FDA, as part of the Trump administration’s plans to reduce the number of federal workers.
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. had previously said that food and drug safety inspectors would not be impacted while jobs would be cut across the department. The report from Reuters adds that the Trump administration has proposed cutting $40 billion from the agency.
