Summer's produce outbreaks expose gaps in FDA oversight of imported food
· Medical Xpressby Ellyn Vohnoutka
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Most fresh fruits and vegetables imported into the United States come from foreign facilities that federal inspectors have rarely, if ever, visited, a new investigation finds.
The Washington Post combined U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspection and import records to examine the overseas facilities that supply 90% of produce shipments to the country.
Since 2009, the FDA has inspected just 7.6% of them.
The gap is wider for Mexico, the top source of imported produce. The agency has inspected only about 2% of Mexican facilities that ship produce here, reports The Post.
Americans now rely on food imports more than ever. About two decades ago, roughly 17% of fresh vegetables and 46% of fresh fruit came from abroad, The Post noted. Recently, those shares reached 34% and 59%.
Because produce is often eaten raw, germs from dirty water or equipment can go straight to the table.
"We don't have a robust system in place to go verify that these foreign producers are following the rules," Sarah Sorscher, director of regulatory affairs at the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest, told The Post.
This summer revealed the risk. Iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico was tied to the nation's largest known outbreak of cyclosporiasis, a gut infection caused by a tiny parasite.
The outbreak sickened 12,883 people in 21 states and put at least 570 in the hospital. Two deaths in Michigan were linked to it. Federal inspectors hadn't visited the company's Mexico operations in seven years.
In another outbreak, Salmonella in jalapeño peppers sickened nearly 500 people. The FDA didn't send a team to the likely source, a grower in a region known for drug cartel activity. Mexico's government contends there's no clear evidence that either outbreak started there.
Produce has appeared often in U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) outbreak notices this year, including iceberg lettuce, jalapeños, frozen blueberries and two kinds of sprouts. As of Oct. 21, the CDC was tracking 29 active multistate investigations of foodborne germs.
Foreign inspections have lagged for years. A 2011 food safety law set a goal of 19,200 foreign food inspections a year. In 2025, the FDA completed 1,024, about 5% of that target.
In early 2025, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) also cut FDA staff who arranged investigators' overseas travel, though some were later rehired, The Post reports.
"FDA is not funded appropriately to have enough investigators to go out and do their job," said Eric Pittman, a former FDA investigator who left the agency in February 2025.
Dr. Donald Prater, the FDA's acting deputy commissioner for food, said the agency also tests produce at the border, reviews importers' records and uses artificial intelligence to guide its work.
"Inspections are not a good proxy for our overall oversight activities," he told The Post.
The FDA is asking Congress for $9 million to boost foreign inspections, Prater said. It also wants the power to charge foreign food facilities fees, which could raise another $71 million.
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