Washington, D.C. – CFA Director of Food Policy, Thomas Gremillion, issued the following statement following FDA’s announcement that it will delay by two-and-a-half years the agency’s final rule on Requirements for Additional Traceability Records for Certain Foods, aka “the FDA Food Traceability Rule”:

The Trump Administration’s decision today to delay FDA’s traceability rule for 30 months will put consumers at higher risk of getting a foodborne illness, and undermine progress towards the goals laid out in the Make America Health Again agenda. Ironically, it was the first Trump Administration that issued this rule. The rule’s previously scheduled January 2026 compliance date would have come over 15 years after Congress passed the Food Safety Modernization Act requiring the rule. The standard recordkeeping elements prescribed in the rule would speed up foodborne illness investigations and recalls. Much of the industry had already invested in complying with the rule, but a few holdouts sought delay. Rewarding these narrow special interests will undermine efforts across the food industry to keep better track of foods, and make it harder for responsible companies and investigators to protect consumers from contaminated food.