2025 has seen significant upheaval for the FDA, which means serious change for the food manufacturing industry as well. Budget cuts and substantial workforce reductions are likely to lead to casualties in communication capabilities and directly impact inspections and oversight. It’s essential to prepare accordingly to maintain a strong food safety culture throughout your operations.
The first step to navigating this tumultuous period while maintaining compliance and keeping food safe is understanding how these changes affect food manufacturers. Stay ahead of the curve and discover how you can adapt to the latest in FDA transitions below.
In March 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced it would be cutting 3,500 employees from the FDA — in addition to recent budget cuts. Many of these employees were support or communications staff. This loss directly impacts the FDA's capabilities to handle routine inspections, distribute notices of recalls or outbreaks, and maintain a hands-on role in food safety oversight.
Some of these FDA workforce reduction decisions may still be in flux; the FDA has hired back some support staff since the initial layoff announcement. However, this re-hiring is still only a fraction of the total staffing cuts and is unlikely to provide significant relief to those at the FDA.
These changes are already creating ripple effects that may influence how the FDA interacts with the food industry, as well as how manufacturers should prepare to demonstrate strong food safety systems and compliance during periods of reduced oversight.
How does the number of FDA staff impact food safety? Worker availability directly correlates to the amount of manpower allocated to specific FDA duties — including inspections, communication, and more.
These efforts to streamline the FDA could drastically diminish the organization’s ability to intervene in food safety affairs within a timely manner, leading to consequences like:
FDA workforce reductions are already impacting food safety inspections. In a recent report, the Office of Inspector General for the HHS found that the FDA has been conducting fewer inspections and is struggling to meet timelines. Despite the FDA’s efforts to keep up, a lack of support staff makes it difficult to stay on top of food safety demands.
To combat this mounting challenge and navigate budget cuts, the FDA has begun to shift routine inspections over to food safety agencies at the state level. This move allows the FDA to focus on high-priority inspections without allowing food safety to slip in the process. The potential hiccup in this new setup is that not every state has an existing contract with the FDA, and states that do may have different levels of funding or staffing available to fill the gaps, leading to inconsistencies.
Changes in regulatory oversight mean that your team may need to add some extra food safety checkpoints in their processes to identify potential risks and help prevent contamination.
Though your facility is already working hard to maintain food safety, reduced inspection frequency means facilities should not rely solely on external oversight to identify food safety threats before products reach consumers. Even with state-level agencies stepping in, inspections will likely look different than what your team is used to. Additional monitoring procedures like increased internal audits can help fill in the gaps left by fewer FDA inspections.
Pro tip: You can also bring in outside food safety expertise from trusted partners like AIB International to help you identify gaps in compliance or areas for improvement before issues arise.
With a large portion of layoffs being communication roles, these FDA workforce reductions will likely directly impact the agency’s ability to quickly disseminate information about the latest recalls or outbreaks with food industry stakeholders (and consumers).
For manufacturers, this potential delay in information is especially hazardous, as businesses must act quickly to identify contaminants, halt production, and recall products before they reach consumers.
Without the workforce to facilitate a rapid and comprehensive release of information, there could be an increase in incidents linked to unknowingly contaminated food products — as well as costly consequences for manufacturers that aren't made aware of issues until it's too late.
Ramping up your internal efforts to stay informed about current recalls and outbreaks will be essential in this new era of FDA communication — including enacting proactive monitoring and emphasizing interdepartmental communication. Consider encouraging your food safety team to prioritize regular check-ins (if you haven't already).
Your operation must also be prepared for rapid response in the event of a food safety breach or foodborne illness outbreak. Prioritize the development and implementation of effective crisis management training so your team can react immediately if an incident occurs.
In addition to staffing and budget cuts at the FDA, the elimination of the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF) means there are fewer resources dedicated to identifying outbreak sources and responding accordingly. This advisory committee under the USDA was tasked with the study and identification of foodborne pathogens.
Between a limited staff and a backlog of hazard reports, the FDA will need to rely on manufacturers to bridge the gap in response times and ensure U.S. food safety.
While updates to the Food Safety Modernization Act's (FSMA) guidelines may already be changing the way manufacturers approach traceability, FDA workforce reductions create even more urgency for your team to improve traceability protocols.
From building an effective recall management team to investing in technology like blockchain or Internet-of-Things-enabled devices, your team can improve recall response and trace-back efforts for faster, more effective crisis response. Supplementary traceability training can also increase your team’s efficacy during an outbreak.
New product applications must be carefully reviewed and considered before being approved for distribution, which can create a bottleneck during staffing shortages. With FDA staff stretched thin, it may be difficult for the agency to respond quickly to new product applications.
This means that your operations may face longer approval cycles when submitting a new product — made worse if your application doesn't meet FDA standards.
While slow product application reviews may be unavoidable, what your team can avoid is starting over due to food safety noncompliance. To give your product application a leg up in the approval process, develop and maintain a proactive food safety program that supports new product development and meets regulatory requirements.
Place food safety at the forefront of your new product development process to ensure products meet FSMA guidelines early on in the process. Rely on the food safety experts on your team, like your PCQI, to build a product development program that supports compliance and facilitates regulatory review.
Keeping up with the changes brought on by FDA workforce reductions can be a challenge for even the most experienced manufacturing operations. Less reliable communications and a lack of oversight create more responsibility (and pressure) for your team — but that doesn't mean they have to bear it alone.
Partnering with trusted third-party experts like AIB International can smooth transitions during times of uncertainty. Assign an expert today to help your team stay ahead.