"A Trump administration move to axe key food safety advisory committees could leave the public more vulnerable to food-borne illnesses, critics fear, particularly alongside current legislative efforts to undermine proposed safety regulations on food processors.

The decision to cut the committees, which brought together academics, industry researchers and consumer advocates to advise agencies on food safety, comes after hospitalizations and deaths from foodborne illnesses more than doubled last year, with most illnesses attributed to the same harmful pathogens that the groups were working to address. And it comes less than a month after Republican lawmakers introduced legislation that would block the implementation of a proposed new regulatory framework for reducing Salmonella contamination in raw poultry that was introduced under former President Joe Biden.

“It doesn’t appear that this administration at the highest level seems to care about food safety,” said Michael Hansen, a senior staff scientist for the group Consumer Reports who was serving on the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF)."

Shannon Kelleher reports for The New Lede March 14, 2025. [2]