The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has suspended its proficiency testing for Grade A raw milk and finished products, according to a Reuters report.
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,” according to an email seen by Reuters.
This comes after the termination and departure of 20,000 from the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes the FDA, in an attempt to cut US$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.
This month, FDA also suspended its efforts to improve testing for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) due to HHS staffing cuts.
The Interlaboratory Comparison Exercise for Detecting Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza was set to launch later this month but was suspended last week because of cuts to staff at the FDA’s Human Food Program that would have supported the scientific and testing needs of the program, according to an email seen by Reuters.
The program would have included more than 40 laboratories across FDA’s Veterinary Laboratory Investigation and Response Network (Vet-LIRN) and USDA’s National Animal Health Laboratory Network, as well as FDA food labs and private industry.
