November 06, 2025 · View in browser

The dramatic shift in oversight comes at a time when the U.S. has never been more reliant on foreign food, which accounts for the vast majority of the nation’s seafood and more than half its fresh fruit.

ProPublica’s Annie Waldman and Brandon Roberts crunched the numbers and found that the U.S. is on track to have the fewest foreign food inspections since 2011 (excluding pandemic years). 

Here’s what you need to know about how it could affect our food supply: 

• In recent years, FDA investigators have uncovered numerous safety violations at foreign food facilities, including crawling insects, cracked conveyor belts and dripping pipes.

• The U.S. has grown increasingly reliant on foreign food. Nearly all seafood, around 60% of fresh fruit and around 40% of vegetables are imported. 

• Food safety experts said there’s an increased risk of outbreaks of foodborne illness. “It’s only a matter of time before people die,” one said.

• About two dozen current and former FDA officials blamed the pullback of foreign food inspections on deep staffing cuts under Trump. 

The Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration, and the White House did not respond to any of ProPublica’s questions about the decrease in foreign food inspections or other recent actions. “Responding to ProPublica is not considered a mission-critical activity,” said the HHS press secretary, citing the government shutdown.

President Donald Trump and officials in his administration say National Guard troops are needed in “War ravaged” Portland, Oregon, to protect a local Immigration and Customs Enforcement office that he described as being under siege.

While courts deliberate the legality of the deployment, ProPublica’s Rob Davis and Steve Suo set out to examine the roles that demonstrators and police played in creating clashes. We found a wide gap between the reality on the ground and the characterizations by the president and the Department of Homeland Security, which said ICE facilities like Portland’s were under “coordinated assault by violent groups.”

In the two months before Trump sent the National Guard to Portland, authorities announced criminal charges against only three protesters. On nights with conflict, it often came from police firing on, pepper-spraying or tackling protesters. Two policing experts who reviewed videos said federal officers at times used force inappropriately.

“President Trump is taking lawful action to protect federal law enforcement officers and address the out-of-control violence that local residents have complained about and Democrat leaders have failed to stop,” said Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to emails requesting comment on its officers’ tactics.

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