by Amanda Head
Domestic agricultural strength ensures self-sufficiency, supports military readiness (by feeding troops and populations in crises), and projects power through exports and aid.
The Food and Drug Administration is turning its attention to finding practical ways to trace food from origins to points of sale to advance the key Trump administration priority of strengthening the U.S. food-supply chain and protecting consumers from illness outbreaks, all under the “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.
The process – known as "lot-level" traceability – is more specifically the process of tracking a specific batch of products or raw materials throughout the entire supply chain. It ensures that each lot can be identified, and its history can be reconstructed, which is crucial for quality control and safety, especially in the food industry.
The process was discussed as part of an FDA meeting on Monday in which nearly 40 scheduled speakers talked about the challenges and solutions toward improved lot-level food traceability – among them were Margaret Hardin Mannion, of the National Association of Convenience Stores, and Mark Coast, of Blockchain Agricultural Solutions Inc.
Food security is national security
Food security is considered a cornerstone of national security because a country’s ability to reliably produce and access sufficient, affordable, and safe food underpins economic stability, public health and resilience against external shocks.
Disruptions from wars, pandemics, trade conflicts, or supply-chain failures can lead to shortages, price spikes, unrest, and vulnerability to foreign leverage, especially if a country relies heavily on imports or adversarial-owned assets in critical sectors like farmland, processing, or inputs (e.g., fertilizers and crop protection.)
However, some in the food industry have raised concerns about the cost of compliance with the FDA's Food Traceability Rule, whose compliance deadline is roughly two years away.
“The food industry shares FDA’s commitment to enhancing public health and improving the ability to trace products during food safety events and doing so in the most efficient way possible,” Jennifer Hatcher, chief public policy officer for FMI, the food industry association, said after the meeting.
"FMI and our member companies have consistently advocated for an approach to traceability that supports public health while minimizing unnecessary costs and operational burdens throughout the food supply chain.”
Recognizing the critical need to secure America’s supply chain, the Trump administration instituted initiatives like the National Farm Security Action Plan (announced July 2025), which treats “Farm Security = Food Security = National Security.”
Importantly, the order restricts foreign (especially adversarial, like Chinese) ownership of U.S. farmland near military sites or in sensitive areas with enhanced transparency and penalties.
It also bolsters supply-chain resilience via domestic manufacturing priorities and non-adversarial partnerships, and invests in biosecurity and disease response.
Contaminated food kills Americans
Foodborne illnesses remain a significant public health challenge in the U.S., with the CDC (Center for Disease Control) estimating roughly 48 million cases, 128,000 hospitalizations, and about 3,000 deaths annually.
Norovirus leads in overall illnesses (around 5.5 million domestically acquired foodborne cases), while Salmonella, Campylobacter, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), and Listeria drive the most severe outcomes, hospitalizations, and deaths.
Listeria and Salmonella are particularly deadly due to their ability to cause systemic infections, especially in vulnerable populations.
Among the worst outbreaks, the 2011 Listeria contamination of Jensen Farms cantaloupes sickened 146 people across 28 states and killed 33 (one of the deadliest recent incidents), while the 2008–2009 Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) Salmonella outbreak caused over 700 illnesses and 9 deaths.
These and similar events trigger massive recalls. The PCA case led to one of the largest in U.S. history, with thousands of peanut products pulled.
The 2023 cantaloupe outbreak prompted widespread melon recalls, and other major actions have targeted ground turkey (Salmonella), leafy greens and cucumbers (E. coli and Salmonella), deli meats and soft cheeses (Listeria), and various produce items, often involving millions of pounds of food to contain multistate spread.
Amanda Head is White House Correspondent for Just The News. You can follow her here.
Amanda Head
Source: https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/farm-fork-trumps-fda-brings-food-security-and-health-through
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