FDA Suspends Milk Testing

Got milk? The FDA's quality control team currently doesn't. Citing job cuts, the Food and Drug Administration on Monday stopped proficiency testing of fluid milk and other dairy products, reports Reuters, according to an internal email. The move comes after the overarching Department of Health and Human Services cut 20,000 jobs through attrition, buyouts, and layoffs, and the Guardian notes that it follows on the heels of the FDA suspending testing of dairy products for bird flu.

This new stoppage, however, is apparently temporary, reports USA Today, as the agency transfers testing from the Moffett Center Proficiency Testing Laboratory—which "is no longer able to provide laboratory support for proficiency testing and data analysis," per the email—to another lab. No word on when that might start up again. Said the FDA: "In the meantime, state and federal labs continue to analyze food samples, and [the] FDA remains committed to working with states to protect the safety of the pasteurized milk supply." The move is the latest in the FDA's round of belt-tightening in the wake of the job cuts. (More FDA stories.)