Farm linked to cyclosporaisis outbreak went years without FDA inspection
The FDA has long fallen short of legally required inspection targets, and foreign inspections fell further last year amid agency layoffs.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has conducted only a fraction of the foreign food safety inspections required by law, according to recent reports. In 2025, the FDA performed just under 1,000 inspections, far below the nearly 20 times that number mandated by federal law. This underperformance stems from a lack of funding and staffing, with Congress failing to increase the agency's food safety budget to match inflation since its establishment.
The agency's inspection rate has declined by 29% from 2024, falling to its lowest level since 2011 outside of the COVID-19 pandemic. The FDA's inability to conduct routine inspections leaves it "completely blind" to potential food safety issues, according to Meridith Seife, the lead author of a Health and Human Services Inspector General report.
The agency's last inspection of Taylor Farms de Mexico, believed to be the source of the ongoing cyclosporiasis outbreak in the U.S., was seven years ago. The FDA employs a risk-based model to determine inspection priorities, but critics argue that the count still serves as an essential outside check on food safety.
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