Fully Staff the FDA and CDC to Fix Our Broken Food Safety System

Congress must mandate full staffing of the FDA and CDC. Illinois is now dealing with a second major food safety crisis tied to the same company — Taylor Farms — first a cyclosporiasis outbreak that sickened thousands, and now a salmonella-linked jalapeño recall hitting Kroger, Walmart, and Whole Foods locations across the state. This is not bad luck. It is what happens when the agencies responsible for protecting our food supply are chronically understaffed. Recalls like this one — spanning 26 states and dozens of products — require rapid investigation, coordinated response, and the personnel to execute both. When the FDA and CDC are operating below capacity, contaminated products stay on shelves longer and more people get sick. Taylor Farms should not have been able to trigger two major outbreaks in a single summer without a fully resourced federal response catching it sooner. Pass legislation that mandates full staffing for both agencies and funds it accordingly.