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A food safety lawyer and colleagues have prepared seven petitions asking the FDA and USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service to change food-safety testing, labeling, outbreak investigation and disclosure practices. The source describes the petitions and the author’s arguments for them; it does not establish that either agency has accepted the requests or will act.
A food safety lawyer has outlined seven petitions to the FDA and USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, seeking changes to testing, consumer warnings, outbreak sampling and disclosure of firms implicated in foodborne illness investigations. The proposals cover infant formula, raw-milk cheese, sprouts, poultry and animal feeding operations; the column does not report agency decisions on the petitions.
The petitions were prepared with the author’s staff and colleagues at law firm Marler Clark, along with scientists, physicians, families affected by outbreaks and other food safety advocates, according to the column. The requests range from adding tests for botulinum neurotoxin-producing clostridia in powdered infant formula and its dairy ingredients to requiring warnings on packaged raw-milk cheese and raw or lightly cooked sprouts. The author says the infant-formula petition is being filed with 46 parents of 24 infants as co-petitioners.
Three requests target poultry oversight by FSIS. They ask the agency to classify Salmonella at or above 1 CFU per gram as an adulterant in raw ground chicken and turkey and raw chicken parts, or, alternatively, to apply the classification to three serotypes the agency identifies as causing the most illness: Infantis, Enteritidis and Typhimurium. The petition also asks FSIS to begin verification sampling that the column says was announced in 2024 and postponed indefinitely in December 2025.
The remaining proposals ask the FDA to conduct limited environmental and animal sampling at an animal feeding operation when the agency has determined in writing that it is implicated in a multistate outbreak, and to set a written standard for naming firms implicated in outbreaks. The source also describes a separate request for the FDA to complete its review of the 60-day aging rule for raw-milk cheese and require cheesemakers relying on aging to validate its effectiveness.
Requests Span Testing, Warnings and Disclosure
The petitions address several points where consumers and investigators may face gaps between public health advice, testing rules and information disclosed during outbreaks. If adopted, the requests could change what manufacturers test for, what warnings shoppers see and when federal investigators can collect samples or identify businesses linked to an outbreak.
Those consequences are proposals, not current policy changes. The column’s examples—including illness investigations and past agency actions—are presented as the author’s case for action. Readers should distinguish that advocacy from a formal agency finding that each proposed rule is legally required or that the petitions will be granted.
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Earlier Rules and Outbreak Investigations
The author frames the petitions as requests to complete or extend existing federal work. For raw-milk cheese, the column points to the FDA’s 2013 announcement that it would reevaluate the 60-day aging rule and argues that the agency’s science does not show the rule reliably eliminates pathogens. It proposes a prescribed warning similar to one used for juice, alongside validation requirements for producers relying on aging.
For poultry, the column cites an FSIS determination in May 2024 that Salmonella at or above 1 CFU/g is an adulterant in breaded stuffed raw chicken products. It says a broader rulemaking covering other raw poultry was withdrawn in April 2025. On outbreak disclosure, it describes FDA investigations in which the agency identified foods but did not name a grower, processor or brand, and argues that a written disclosure standard is needed.
““trying to put myself out of business””
— The publisher and petition author
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Agency Decisions Remain Unreported
The source does not provide the FDA’s or FSIS’s response to the petitions, a schedule for review, or any commitment to begin rulemaking. It also does not include the full petition texts or agency legal analyses. The column’s account of the investigations and regulatory history is attributable to its author and should not be treated as an independent agency determination.
The supplied material ends partway through its description of the firm-disclosure petition, so the full wording and scope of that request are not available here. The status of the other petitions—including their precise filing dates and whether each has been formally submitted—is also not fully specified.
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Petition Review Is the Next Step
The next development would be confirmation that the petitions have been filed and any response from the relevant agency. FDA would need to address requests involving infant formula, cheese, sprouts, feeding-operation sampling and outbreak disclosures; FSIS would address the poultry requests. The source gives no review timetable or announced agency action, so the petitions’ outcome remains open.
foodborne illness outbreak detection
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Key Questions
What are the seven petitions asking federal agencies to do?
They seek expanded pathogen testing in powdered infant formula, warnings for raw-milk cheese and raw or lightly cooked sprouts, Salmonella rules and sampling for raw poultry, limited outbreak-related access to animal feeding operations, and a written standard for identifying firms implicated in outbreaks.
Have the FDA or FSIS agreed to the requests?
The source reports no agency decisions or commitments. The proposals should not be read as rules that are already in force.
Who is backing the petitions?
The author says they were developed with Marler Clark staff, scientists, physicians, affected families and other food safety advocates. The infant-formula petition is described as having 46 parents of 24 infants as co-petitioners.
What would the proposed feeding-operation access allow?
As described in the column, FDA could enter an operation and take environmental and animal samples after making a written determination that it is implicated in a multistate outbreak. The author says the request would not grant seizure powers or authority over animal husbandry or financial records.
Source: rss
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