SECURITY Signal 56
FDA foreign food inspections dropped nearly 35% since 2019, prompting call for congressional hearing
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FDA foreign food inspections fell nearly 35% since 2019, raising the risk of foodborne outbreaks such as the recent Cyclospora lettuce case.
The drop means the agency is performing far below the statutory target of 19,200 inspections, requiring either a revised target or major funding increase. At the current cost of about $38,700 per inspection, meeting the target would need roughly $743 million annually, far exceeding the $9 million recently requested. This gap shows a systemic under-resourcing that could allow contaminated food to reach consumers, as seen in the Cyclospora outbreak that caused thousands of cases and hospitalizations.
Written by elseif from the cluster below · every claim links back to a sourceThe three things worth knowing
FDA foreign food inspections dropped nearly 35% since 2019, falling to 1,140 in fiscal 2025.
The agency’s statutory target is 19,200 inspections per year, but actual averages have been around 5-9% of that target.
Meeting the target would cost about $743 million per year at the current average cost of $38,700 per inspection, far above the $9 million recently requested for expansion.
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What the cluster adds up to.
FDA foreign food inspections have declined sharply, dropping nearly 35% from the 2019 level to just 1,140 inspections in fiscal 2025. This represents a steep fall from the best year in the recent period, which saw 1,727 inspections in fiscal 2019. Over the longer span from fiscal 2018 through fiscal 2023 the agency averaged only 917 inspections per year, about five percent of the statutory target. The trend shows a consistent under-performance relative to the goal set by law.
Each foreign inspection costs the agency roughly $38,700 on average, according to its own estimate. To achieve the congressional mandate of 19,200 inspections per year would therefore require about $743 million annually, which is more than ten percent of the FDA’s total budget. In contrast, the agency’s most recent budget request sought only an additional $9 million to expand foreign inspection capacity, leaving a huge shortfall. The human foods appropriation for the current fiscal year is about $1.17 billion, indicating that the requested increase is a small fraction of what would be needed to meet the target.
The consequences of fewer inspections are illustrated by the recent Cyclospora outbreak linked to lettuce, which led to 18,445 lab-confirmed cases and 990 hospitalizations across 49 states and the District of Columbia. The outbreak alone accounted for 11,458 cases in 20 states, with 495 people hospitalized and two deaths reported in Michigan. Although an inspection of the packing plant might not have detected the parasite, the decline in oversight raises the likelihood that similar contamination events could go unnoticed until after distribution.
Congress is urged to hold a hearing that asks the FDA to state, under oath, what number of foreign inspections it considers defensible, what that number would cost, how many investigators it would require, and what resources would be needed to retain staff given their travel burden. The hearing would also invite a consumer who experienced illness to describe personal costs, lost work, and medical challenges. Such a session would move the discussion from a symbolic target to a concrete appraisal of what the agency can realistically accomplish with available funds.
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