A nationwide Cyclospora outbreak tied to contaminated lettuce has raised food safety fears and highlighted a key trend: American regulators conduct fewer foreign inspections to catch tainted produce before it reaches consumer plates. Food and Drug Administration audits at international food operations — including the Mexican farm linked to the outbreak — have fallen nearly 35% since 2019, according to agency records. The pandemic triggered an ongoing wave of inspector retirements and departures.
Prior to COVID-19, the agency routinely failed to meet congressional mandates for overseas checks. Recent staff cuts, restructurings, and changes under President Donald Trump could lead to even fewer inspections, according to former senior FDA officials. "When you look at the numbers of inspections balanced against the responsibility of the FDA — in terms of all the firms domestically and internationally under its oversight — the agency just can’t achieve what is required," said Michael Rogers, who spent nearly 35 years in various inspection roles within the agency.
He added that the FDA still operates "very well with limited resources." The Trump administration suggested new ideas to stretch resources — including a pilot program for one-day checks. Rogers and others argue brief visits cannot match standard inspections, which take a week or longer to record major issues. FDA officials maintain that site visits are only one component of food safety oversight.
"Inspections will never be the only way to ensure the safety of imported products given the massive volume coming into the country," said Susan Mayne, FDA's former food director who is now at Yale University. "That’s why FDA uses border inspections, importer inspections, sampling and other tools." But the iceberg lettuce situation has exposed potential weaknesses in that strategy. In July, officials retracted an erroneous test result that purportedly found cyclospora in a border sample of Taylor Farms lettuce.
Despite the mistake, the FDA remains confident the farm is the source of the parasite, while Mexican officials report finding no positive samples or red flags. A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, which supervises the FDA, said the inquiry continues. Regulators are currently evaluating how many foreign inspections are needed annually "to ensure oversight comparable" to domestic standards.
Approximately four weeks after a July 17 recall notice, Food and Drug Administration inspectors reached a Taylor Farms facility in Guanajuato, Mexico, in mid-August. The visit marked the agency’s first visit to the location since 2019, when foreign food audits hit an all-time high before the pandemic-era withdrawal of field personnel. Global food safety monitoring—alongside checks on pharmaceuticals and medical devices—has not rebounded.
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