A nationwide Cyclospora outbreak tied to contaminated lettuce has raised food safety fears and highlighted a key trend: American regulators conduct fewer foreign inspections to catch tainted produce before it reaches consumer plates.
Food and Drug Administration audits at international food operations — including the Mexican farm linked to the outbreak — have fallen nearly 35% since 2019, according to agency records. The pandemic triggered an ongoing wave of inspector retirements and departures.
Prior to COVID-19, the agency routinely failed to meet congressional mandates for overseas checks. Recent staff cuts, restructurings, and changes under President Donald Trump could lead to even fewer inspections, according to former senior FDA officials.
"When you look at the numbers of inspections balanced against the responsibility of the FDA — in terms of all the firms domestically and internationally under its oversight — the agency just can’t achieve what is required," said Michael Rogers, who spent nearly 35 years in various inspection roles within the agency. He added that the FDA still operates "very well with limited resources."
The Trump administration suggested new ideas to stretch resources — including a pilot program for one-day checks. Rogers and others argue brief visits cannot match standard inspections, which take a week or longer to record major issues.
FDA officials maintain that site visits are only one component of food safety oversight.
"Inspections will never be the only way to ensure the safety of imported products given the massive volume coming into the country," said Susan Mayne, FDA's former food director who is now at Yale University. "That’s why FDA uses border inspections, importer inspections, sampling and other tools."
But the iceberg lettuce situation has exposed potential weaknesses in that strategy.
In July, officials retracted an erroneous test result that purportedly found cyclospora in a border sample of Taylor Farms lettuce. Despite the mistake, the FDA remains confident the farm is the source of the parasite, while Mexican officials report finding no positive samples or red flags.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, which supervises the FDA, said the inquiry continues. Regulators are currently evaluating how many foreign inspections are needed annually "to ensure oversight comparable" to domestic standards.
FDA took four weeks to inspect Mexican plant after massive salad recall, report says
Approximately four weeks after a July 17 recall notice, Food and Drug Administration inspectors reached a Taylor Farms facility in Guanajuato, Mexico, in mid-August.
The visit marked the agency’s first visit to the location since 2019, when foreign food audits hit an all-time high before the pandemic-era withdrawal of field personnel.
Global food safety monitoring—alongside checks on pharmaceuticals and medical devices—has not rebounded. International food audits dropped an additional 17 percent to 1,140 in fiscal year 2025 compared to the previous year.
Though inspectors were spared from the 3,500 job cuts enacted by the Trump administration, over half of the travel support staff was eliminated, forcing field agents to manage their own flights, lodging, and logistical needs.
Food safety experts noted that the one-month gap before arriving in Mexico was excessive given the extent of the outbreak and the volume of people affected.
"It took us too long to get boots on the ground," said Frank Yiannas, the former top food safety official at FDA. "When these outbreaks happen in fresh produce, you have to respond quickly because these are very complex and changing ecosystems."
The Taylor Farms incident involved thousands of pre-packaged salad items blending iceberg lettuce and other produce. These units were distributed to major American restaurant operators, including Yum Brands, the parent company of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and KFC.
FDA records show that businesses have reported more than 480 food recalls during the current fiscal year, already topping four of the last five years.
Chronic staffing vacancies cripple FDA’s ability to inspect foreign food facilities
Efforts to overhaul the US food safety framework in Washington are not new. Following fatal contamination outbreaks involving produce like spinach and cantaloupe, Congress passed the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011. The law mandated enhanced farm hygiene, training, and testing, while setting ambitious overseas inspection targets that the Food and Drug Administration has consistently failed to meet.
Under the statute, the FDA must audit more than 19,000 foreign food sites annually. Yet Government Accountability Office data shows the agency peaked at just 1,700 inspections in 2019—less than a tenth of its legal target.
Former FDA regulators argue that the 19,000-site mandate was unattainable from the start, citing years of stagnant congressional funding for the food division. Even so, the GAO noted that the agency "has not identified an appropriate annual target," leaving oversight goals uncertain.
Staff recruitment and retention remain the main barriers to expanding these evaluations. The agency's food inspection division includes over 420 roles, but 10 to 15 percent of those positions are chronically vacant, according to former personnel and the GAO.
Inspectors assigned to international duties spend 50 percent or more of their time traveling, a demanding workflow driving continuous turnover.
"Until you can better incentivize people to stay in those positions, I think the agency is going to continue to see high attrition, younger and less experienced investigators," said Rogers. "That ultimately may impact FDA’s ability to enhance and increase inspections."
Industry specialists suggest emerging tools, such as machine learning and remote monitoring of supplier operations, could reduce reliance on physical visits.
"We have to rethink how we oversee the safety of foreign producers," Yiannas said. "We can’t use the same approaches and limited tools that we’ve used for the past 30 years."
The 2011 legislation also required producers to attach bar codes to every batch of produce, enabling rapid tracing during contamination incidents. Slated to take effect in January after years of industry consultation, the FDA delayed implementation once again following pushback from food companies.
"There’s widespread acknowledgment that these are complex issues, but when you have 17 years to prepare for a final exam you should be able to pass it," said Brian Ronholm, a former Department of Agriculture official who is now with Consumer Reports.
Read MoreTrial begins in case of Australian surfers and American friend found dead in Mexico
UK facing backlash to sanctions over Israeli West Bank settlements
Ukraine war live: Zelensky says Moscow tried to kill as many people in Kyiv attack
Hurricane Lowell: Hawaii braces for heavy rain as schools set to close
Inside the deadly summer of human-bear conflicts sweeping across the American West
US blows up Ecuadorian ship it linked to Los Choneros drug trafficking
