Inspections of Foreign Food At All-Time Low: Report

Foreign food safety inspections by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reached their lowest level in more than a decade in 2025, according to a ProPublica analysis of federal data.

Newsweek reached out to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by email on Saturday afternoon outside of normal business hours for comment.

Why It Matters

The Trump administration has looked to significantly reduce the scope and cost of the federal government, most notably through the months-long review and subsequent cuts to staffing across several departments, including the FDA.

The FDA oversees about 80 percent of the nation’s food supply, but only 40% of the facilities it regulates operate within U.S. borders. Imports account for most of the country’s seafood and over half its fresh fruit.

This occurs as the FDA investigates ongoing health concerns around a multistate Listeria monocytogenes outbreak linked to various meal products sold at a number of stores. The outbreak has resulted in 27 confirmed illnesses and six deaths across 18 states as of the end of October 2025.

According to a May press release, the FDA conducts approximately 12,000 domestic inspections and 3,000 foreign inspections each year in more than 90 countries. The agency argued that foreign firms have often had weeks to prepare, undermining the integrity of the oversight process.

What To Know

Trump administration cuts have left the U.S. more dependent than ever on imported foods and raising alarms among food safety officials and advocates, according to ProPublica.

As foreign food products have increasingly been linked to outbreaks of foodborne illness, effective oversight remains critical. In-person inspections are widely recognized as essential for uncovering unhygienic practices, equipment failures, and falsified safety data that cannot be detected by reviewing paperwork or inspecting shipments at ports of entry.

An analysis by ProPublica reviewing public FDA data found that as of July 2025, foreign inspections had fallen nearly 30 percent compared to similar periods in the two previous years.

In March 2025, the number of inspections was cut by nearly half from the prior average of 110 per month.

The sharp decline in inspections was attributed by about two dozen current and former FDA officials to deep staffing and support cuts under the Trump administration. Mass layoffs in February 2025 included 89 firings from the FDA’s Human Foods Program, and another round in March and April affected thousands more at the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The administration also paused or scaled back several FDA and CDC programs integral to food safety, such as delaying compliance on a key rule for rapid detection and removal of harmful food products.

However, the FDA in May had announced plans to expand the use of unannounced inspections at foreign manufacturing facilities, using the Office of Inspection and Investigations Foreign Unannounced Inspection Pilot program in India and China as the model to emulate.

What People Are Saying

FDA Commissioner Martin A. Makary in May said: “For too long, foreign companies have enjoyed a double standard—given advanced notice before facility inspections, while American manufacturers are held to rigorous standards with no such warning. That ends today. This is a key step for the FDA as part of a broader strategy to get foreign inspections back on track.”

Scott Faber, Environmental Working Group, told ProPublica: “When you attack the federal government, you end up undermining vital functions, particularly those ensuring public safety, like food. It’s only a matter of time before severe consequences arise.”