On Monday morning, a seemingly unassuming email arrived in inboxes across a national network of food safety laboratories. It came from the Food and Drug Administration’s Division of Dairy Safety. The FDA, the agency responsible for the safety of everything from lettuce to life-saving drugs, was suspending its proficiency testing program for Grade “A” milk — the gold standard for fluid dairy products in the United States.
The program has been a cornerstone of the nation’s dairy oversight system. It ensured that labs around the country could consistently detect pathogens and contaminants in the milk Americans pour into their cereal bowls and coffee cups. But apparently, the FDA’s own testing laboratory could no longer operate. “The Moffett Center Proficiency Testing Laboratory . . . is no longer able to provide laboratory support for proficiency testing and data analysis,” the email read.
A public health problem
The sudden halt, confirmed by Reuters and later echoed across science and media outlets, is part of a wider unraveling of the FDA. Over the past weeks, thousands of employees were cut from the Department of Health and Human Services, the umbrella agency that includes the FDA. These layoffs were part of a broader campaign by President Donald Trump — a campaign embraced with visible enthusiasm by his newly appointed HHS Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Kennedy, who built his political persona on controversy and vaccine skepticism, has promised to “Make America Healthy Again.” Yet under his tenure, the agency responsible for safeguarding the nation’s food and drugs is now curtailing its ability to do exactly that.
And the timing couldn’t be worse. With bird flu recently detected in U.S. dairy cows — a situation that prompted urgent warnings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — the FDA also suspended testing programs for avian influenza in milk and cheese. Another halted an initiative focused on Cyclospora, a parasite that can cause severe gastrointestinal illness when consumed in contaminated produce.
These programs weren’t luxuries. They were the backbone of consumer protection. When you cut them, you’re putting people at risk.
But this starts to make much more sense when you consider RFK Jr’s history.
A dangerous “crusade”
Kennedy’s broader campaign has been to reform — or in some cases dismantle — long-standing public health practices. In recent months, Kennedy has cast doubt on the safety of childhood vaccines, championed raw milk consumption despite CDC warnings, and attacked regulations on pesticides and fluoride. He’s also advocated for controversial medical treatments like unapproved stem cell therapies and chelation — the latter based on his own claims of past mercury poisoning.
Simply put, Kennedy’s stances often go against proven science.
When it comes to milk, Kennedy has expressed vocal support for raw milk more than once. He has publicly said that he only drinks unpasteurized milk — a product banned from interstate sale due to the risk it poses. In fact, drinking unpasteurized milk is one of the worst health decisions you can make.
Pasteurization was developed in the 19th century precisely to stop deadly pathogens like Salmonella, Listeria, and E. coli from reaching consumers. It was one of the most important public health decisions. The claimed benefits of raw milk are not backed by science, but the risks are very real.
Even more worrisome now is the specter of bird flu potentially jumping from dairy cows to humans through raw milk, a scenario the CDC has explicitly warned against.
A health system under siege
Details are sparse on whether the suspension of milk testing is temporary or what will happen. But this is not an isolated decision. It’s one of many weakened health protections. Under the Trump administration’s directive, the Department of Health and Human Services has shed tens of thousands of staff, a reduction that has turned regulatory agencies once tasked with vigilance into shadows of their former selves.
The consequences may not be immediate. Milk may still arrive on shelves looking clean, cold, and white. But the risk is no longer theoretical. Without standardized testing, a contaminated batch in one state may go unnoticed. An outbreak in another may be misdiagnosed. Over time, inconsistencies accumulate—and cracks form in the very system designed to ensure trust in the food supply.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., armed with a long history of promoting fringe theories, now leads the country’s health apparatus. He has regularly undermined science, and the effects are showing, like in the case of the ongoing measles outbreak.
These decisions will have very real consequences. Ignoring science usually does.
