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SHUTDOWN DEAL KILLS FOOD SAFETY RULES  
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Freddy Brewster and Luke Goldstein
November 11, 2025
The Lever
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_ After lobbyists spent big on the Trump administration and
Democratic defectors, the government funding bill cut
food-contamination rules and limited ultraprocessed-food research. _

, (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

 

Amid a lobbying blitz and a flood of campaign cash, senators inserted
language into this week’s emergency spending bill that eliminates
rules designed to prevent food contamination and foodborne illnesses
at farms and restaurants, according to legislative text reviewed by
_The Lever_. 

The bill would also limit the development of rules to regulate
ultra-processed foods, despite such foods being derided by the “Make
America Healthy Again Movement,” championed by President Donald
Trump [[link removed]]’s Health and
Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr
[[link removed]].

The Senate’s gutting of these rules coincides with a huge increase
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hospitalizations and deaths from foodborne illnesses. The changes
follow restaurant and food industry lobbyists spending more than $13
million in 2025 lobbying the White House, Congress, the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), and other regulators on food-tracking issues and
other matters, disclosures show. 

Two of these lobbying
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groups
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pressing for the changes delivered more
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than
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$750,000 to both parties’ congressional candidates and more than
$145,000 to the two parties’ congressional election committees in
the last election. That includes $17,000 combined to three of the
seven Democratic senators who sided with Republicans to pass the
funding bill. 

One of the rules being targeted would institute
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new record-keeping standards for food companies so federal agencies
can more easily identify the origin point of any “foodborne illness
outbreaks,” among other potential safety risks. 

A line in the funding package withholds funding for implementing these
standards until 2028, mirroring a recent extension
[[link removed]] proposed
by the Trump administration’s food regulators and supported by
industry groups. 

The funding bill also took aim at rules designed to
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“minimize the risk of serious adverse health consequences or death
from consumption of contaminated produce” by establishing procedures
to “provide reasonable assurances that the produce is not
adulterated.” 

Industry groups, including the National Restaurant Association, the
National Grocers Association, and the International Foodservice
Distributors Association, have spent millions lobbying federal
regulators on these matters this year.

The National Restaurant Association gave
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$85,000 this past election cycle to political action committees
affiliated with Senate and House Republican leadership, along with
tens of thousands of dollars to individual candidates. 

The government funding bill
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passed the Senate on Nov. 10 with the help of seven Senate Democrats.
The bill’s passage comes after widespread Democratic election wins,
prompting party infighting over the fact that it does not extend
pandemic-era health care subsidies
[[link removed]]. 

The National Restaurant Association
[[link removed]], “the largest food service trade
association in the world” that lobbied on the food-tracking issues,
donated
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$10,000 to the 2024 election of Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), one of the
seven Democrats
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who caved on the shutdown. The group gave another $5,000 to the 2024
election efforts of Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who also voted for the
funding bill.

Additionally, the National Grocers Association, a grocery and retail
industry group that lobbied on food-tracking issues, donated $1,000
each to Kaine and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who also sided with
Republicans.

MAKING FOOD SAFETY OPAQUE AGAIN

Last year saw a doubling of Americans who were hospitalized or killed
by contaminated food outbreaks, according to data compiled
[[link removed]] by the U.S.
Public Interest Research Group. In all, there are now “10 million
cases of foodborne illnesses annually in the United States (and) these
illnesses result in about 53,300 hospitalizations and over 900
deaths,” according to a recent report
[[link removed]] by the Government
Accountability Office.

Despite that, the new funding bill blocks federal rules designed to
trace sources of outbreaks, and to prevent contamination of produce.
One provision in the legislation states that no funds “may be used
to administer or enforce the ‘Requirements for Additional
Traceability Records for Certain Foods,’ published on Nov. 21,
2022.” 

Originally proposed by the first Trump administration during the
pandemic when COVID-19 posed severe risks of contaminating food
systems, the Food and Drug Administration’s traceability rule
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aimed to establish new record-keeping standards for companies to track
their food products across the supply chain. Those records could help
regulators identify the point of origin in the event of a major
disease outbreak or food contamination event. The rule applied to
produce, seafood, and certain dairy products, such as cheese, and
exempted small businesses from the rule. 

A host of industry groups opposed
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the new traceability standards in the public comments submitted to the
FDA. 

The National Restaurant Association argued
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comment in 2021 that the proposed rule was “unworkable, making
compliance impossible, given the complex nature of the industry’s
supply chains and business operations, as well as the continuing
economic hardships to the industry from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The National Grocers Association also opposed
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proposed rule, claiming that the FDA “may have exceeded its
authority” and that the rule would be “burdensome” for its
members. The National Fisheries Institute said
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improving food-tracking technologies “is a business benefit and is
not necessary for food safety.” 

The United Egg Producers, the main trade association for major egg
producers such as Cal-Maine
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also submitted a comment raising related concerns about the
standards. 

After delays, the Biden administration finalized
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the rule in 2023.

Soon after Trump took office this year and installed business-friendly
regulators in key positions, agriculture interests began lobbying on
the matter
[[link removed]]. 

The National Restaurant Association spent nearly $2.5 million
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in 2025 lobbying federal lawmakers on issues including the FDA
traceability rule.

The International Foodservice Distributors Association has spent more
than $600,000
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this year lobbying federal lawmakers on the traceability rule, among
other matters. 

In August, the FDA proposed a rule to delay
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implementation of the traceability standards until July 2028. 

The line inserted on page 154 of the new funding package contains
identical language as the federal rule and would enshrine it into
law. 

WINE INSPECTIONS AND BIG CHIP HANDOUTS

The traceability standard isn’t the only food-safety rule targeted
by the shutdown deal.

On page 133 of the funding package, a line states that none of the
funds made available by the bill can be used to enforce a 2015 FDA
rule
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that required stricter inspections for wine grapes, hops, almonds, and
certain other crops. The rule also established water-quality standards
for watering produce and hygienic practices for farmworkers to limit
produce contamination. 

Additionally, the funding bill slashes funds for the FDA to develop or
administer new regulations for “long-term population-wide sodium
reduction actions until an assessment is completed on the impact of
the short-term sodium reduction targets.” 

High-sodium food products are often considered “ultra-processed
foods.” According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
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these foods are associated with a higher risk of heart disease.

Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again report
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released by the White House in May 2025, promoted food guidelines
“that emphasize unprocessed foods while strictly limiting high-fat,
high-sugar, and high-sodium processed items.”

_Freddy Brewster is a reporter and has been published in the Los
Angeles Times, NBC News, CalMatters, the Lost Coast Outpost, and more.
Send tips via Signal: freddy_brewster.64_

_Luke Goldstein is an investigative journalist based in Washington
D.C. He was most recently a writing fellow at the American Prospect
and was with the Open Markets Institute before that. Signal:
310-871-2214._

 

* Government Shutdown
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* Food Safety
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* Lobbyists Money
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