As the sun rises over Main Street, USA, the sounds of morning activity begin to fill the air. The smell of freshly brewed coffee wafts from the diner, enticing passersby with its warm aroma. Amidst this tranquil backdrop, a story of bureaucratic inertia and food safety is unfolding.
In 2011, Congress passed the Food Safety and Modernization Act (FSMA), a landmark legislation aimed at strengthening the nation's food safety framework. One of the key provisions was the "traceability rule," designed to help federal agencies investigate outbreaks of foodborne illness by requiring enhanced record-keeping for high-risk foods.
The promise of this regulation was to allow the FDA to more quickly and accurately pinpoint where tainted food came from, all the way down to the farm. However, the rule has been delayed – not once, but twice. In 2025, the FDA announced a 30-month delay in enforcement, citing concerns raised by retailers and food industry groups.
Fast-forward to this summer's cyclosporiasis outbreak, which sickened over 24,000 people and claimed two lives. The crisis prompted consumer advocates to call on Congress to speed up implementation of the traceability rule, arguing that it could have prevented or significantly mitigated the outbreak's impact.
The delay in enforcing the traceability rule is nothing short of staggering. It has been nearly 16 years since Congress asked the FDA to develop solutions for food safety, and yet, we still don't have enforcement of this rule meant to deal with exactly this type of situation.
Sara Sorscher, an attorney who specializes in food safety at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group, expressed her frustration: "Congress recognized this issue in 2010 and asked [the FDA] to develop solutions. We are now 16 years in, and we still don't have enforcement of this rule that's meant to deal with exactly this type of situation."
The current tracking system in the US derives from the Bioterrorism Act of 2003, which left food traceback incredibly difficult. The stakes are high for farmers – the price of lettuce dropped more than 16% in July, according to government inflation data, as consumers dropped lettuces.
De Ann Davis, vice-president of science for the Western Growers Association, which represents farmers and supports the traceability rule, emphasized the importance of data retention: "If post-when-we-ship it is not traced well, or tracked well, there is very little our grower can do about it."
Even as food safety advocates and growers promote traceability, some of the most intense lobbying has come from retailers and food industry groups. The Food Industry Association (FMI) described traceability as "the most complex regulation the food industry has ever faced" in a recent statement.
In 2024, the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA held a roundtable with representatives of the food industry, from behemoths to influential restaurant groups. Among the attendees were Chipotle, Kellogg Company, and McDonald's.
The National Retail Federation (NRF), whose board of directors includes food heavyweights such as Albertson's, Walmart, and Target, lobbied on the traceability rule, expressing "concerns with FMSA 204 traceability rule" to the House, Senate, FDA, and CDC, according to lobbying reports.
After all this lobbying, the industry got part of what it wanted – another delay. In March 2025, the FDA announced a 30-month delay in enforcement of the traceability rule. In November 2025, Congress ended a historic 43-day government shutdown with a budget bill.
Buried in the massive appropriations act was an important provision for food safety: Congress prohibited enforcement of the traceability rule until July 2028 – the same provision that consumer groups asked lawmakers to rescind in a letter this month.
For some advocates like Bill Marler, whose law firm handles cases of victims who may be severely injured or even killed by food contamination, the delays are nothing short of inconceivable. "These grown white men who run these organizations are acting like 2-year-olds... They just don't want to be told what to do."
As the nation continues to grapple with the complexities of food safety and traceability, it is imperative that we prioritize public health over industry interests. The delay in enforcing the traceability rule may have delayed the inevitable, but it has not eliminated the risk of future outbreaks.
The question remains: What will it take for Congress to take action and implement a rule that could save lives?
Written by: Green Machine | The Citizen Edition
“It's okay, I guess.”