Trump admin delays traceability rule to contain foodborne illness outbreaks

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Dive Brief: 

• The FDA said it would delay requiring companies and grocery stores to trace the foods in their supply chains so they can be quickly removed from shelves in the case of contamination.
• The agency is pushing back its food traceability rule by 30 months to allow companies more time to comply. The requirement was set to go into effect on January 20, 2026.
• The delay comes after several high-profile outbreaks affected major companies including Boar's Head and McDonald's. Hospitalizations and deaths from contaminated food doubled in 2024, according to a report from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

Dive Insight:

First proposed during President Donald Trump's first term, the food traceability rule enhances recordkeeping requirements so companies can identify their suppliers when a foodborne illness outbreak occurs. 

The requirement was in response to a widespread E. Coli outbreak in romaine lettuce in 2018. A lack of recordkeeping made it difficult to determine where the outbreak originated, forcing the FDA to make the unusual request that consumers throw out all romaine lettuce. 

Since then, investigations into foodborne outbreaks have continued to be hampered by a lack of data. Last October, when chicken supplier BrucePac recalled more than 12 million pounds of meat used in frozen or prepared meals due to a listeria outbreak, it could not provide a full list of products with the potentially contaminated items.

The FDA rules apply to high-risk items such as soft cheeses and produce, and grocers were preparing for the traceability rule to take effect by instituting new rules among their suppliers. Kroger, Albertsons and Walmart all have traceability programs that are more robust than what the FDA’s rules require, according to Grocery Dive.

The National Grocers Association, which had pushed for the traceability rule to be delayed, said in a statement that the original timeline “was nearly impossible to meet” for smaller grocers in particular. The group noted that the requirements “added exorbitant costs and operational complexity.”

“The FDA’s decision to delay compliance provides much-needed relief for independent grocers, who would have been forced to pass these burdensome costs on to consumers,” Stephanie Johnson, NGA’s vice president of government relations, said in a statement.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest said the delay will “only serve to keep the public in the dark.”

“In the year 2025, the United States has access to some of the best technology in the world for keeping track of products moving through the food system, yet we still have a hard time figuring out where a bag of lettuce came from and getting contaminated peanut butter off the shelves,”  Sarah Sorscher, CSPI’s director of regulatory affairs, said in a statement. “This rule, when fully implemented, will shed new light on the inner workings of our food system.”