FDA Suspends Milk Quality-Control Testing Program Amid DOGE’s Workforce Cuts

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suspended a quality-control testing program for drinking milk and other dairy products amid President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s federal workforce cuts.

The suspension, which was announced in an internal email, is another disruption to America’s food safety programs following the termination and departure of 20,000 employees of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which includes the FDA, as part of Trump’s effort to shrink the federal workforce.

In February, FDA officials were fired as part of the Trump administration’s streamlining of the federal workforce.

It later rescinded terminations across various agencies, including employees from the FDA who were fired.

As of April 21, the FDA suspended its program for grade “A” raw milk and finished products, which meet the highest sanitation standard, the email noted. It added that the testing program was suspended since the FDA’s Moffett Center Proficiency Testing Laboratory, part of its overseeing food safety, stated it “is no longer able to provide laboratory support for proficiency testing and data analysis.”

An HHS spokesperson said the laboratory was previously set to be decommissioned before the staff cuts.

The email stated that proficiency testing would only be paused during the transition to a new laboratory and ensured that dairy product testing would proceed.

“The FDA is actively evaluating alternative approaches for the upcoming fiscal year and will keep all participating laboratories informed as new information becomes available,” the email stated.

The cuts included almost 20 people in the FDA’s Office of Neurological and Physical Medicine Devices. Of the 300 employees the FDA planned to rehire, 11 were called and told they could return to work on February 24.

At least three of the employees asked to rejoin the FDA were issued termination letters telling them their performance was not “adequate to justify further employment at the agency.”