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109

US FDA suspends milk quality tests amid workforce cuts (www.reuters.com)

submitted 19 hours ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/health@lemmy.world

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The Food and Drug Administration is suspending a quality control program for testing of fluid milk and other dairy products due to reduced capacity in its food safety and nutrition division, according to an internal email seen by Reuters.

The suspension is another disruption to the nation's food safety programs after the termination and departure of 20,000 employees of the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes the FDA, as part of Donald Trump's effort to shrink the federal workforce.

The FDA this month also suspended existing and developing programs that ensured accurate testing for bird flu in milk and cheese and pathogens like the parasite Cyclospora in other food products.

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[–] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 10 points 18 hours ago

Just because I like getting pedantic: washing food in a dilute chlorine solution is harmless and is done basically everywhere.
Some countries ban the import of animal products treated in that way because they're concerned it could lead to less sanitary practices before the wash.

The US has almost entirely stopped using chlorine and instead uses something closer to a dilute vinegar and hydrogen peroxide. The EU bans washing animal products with anything except for water.
They allow washing plant products with chlorine.

The EU and US have comparable levels of outbreaks of the diseases that are being attempted to control, so it's unclear if one strategy is better.

Demanding that another country/region change their food safety regulations is ridiculous, but it's good to remember that it's not an argument over a specific chemical or food safety, but over a difference in regulation that could hypothetically be masking a production issue.