US FDA suspends milk quality tests amid workforce cuts

By Leah Douglas

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Food and Drug Administration is suspending a quality control program for testing of fluid milk and other dairy products due to reduced capacity in its food safety and nutrition division, according to an internal email seen by Reuters.

The suspension is another disruption to the nation’s food safety programs after the termination and departure of 20,000 employees of the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes the FDA, as part of President Donald Trump’s effort to shrink the federal workforce.

The FDA this month also suspended existing and developing programs that ensured accurate testing for bird flu in milk and cheese and pathogens like the parasite Cyclospora in other food products.

Effective Monday, the agency suspended its proficiency testing program for Grade “A” raw milk and finished products, according to the email sent in the morning from the FDA’s Division of Dairy Safety and addressed to “Network Laboratories.”

Grade “A” milk, or fluid milk, meets the highest sanitary standards.

The testing program was suspended because FDA’s Moffett Center Proficiency Testing Laboratory, part of its division overseeing food safety, “is no longer able to provide laboratory support for proficiency testing and data analysis,” the email said.

HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Trump administration has proposed cutting $40 billion from the agency.

The FDA’s proficiency testing programs ensure consistency and accuracy across the nation’s network of food safety laboratories. Laboratories also rely on those quality control tests to meet standards for accreditation.

“The FDA is actively evaluating alternative approaches for the upcoming fiscal year and will keep all participating laboratories informed as new information becomes available,” the email said.

(Reporting by Leah; Editing by Sandra Maler Douglas; Editing by Sandra Maler)