FDA’s Food Safety Inspections Struggle Amid Staffing Shortfall

The FDA has failed to meet its mandated targets for domestic and foreign food safety inspections since fiscal 2018, the US Government Accountability Office said in a report Wednesday.

Thousands of routine food safety inspections of domestic and foreign food facilities were conducted by the Food and Drug Administration from fiscal 2018 through fiscal 2023, but the agency has fallen short in inspection targets to ensure the safety of nearly 80% of the nation’s food supply, according to the federal watchdog’s report.

The Food Safety Modernization Act identifies an annual target of 19,200 foreign facility inspections conducted by the ...