The USDA terminated the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF) and the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection (NACMPI) on February 20, 2025. The committees advised government agencies on different parts of food safety: NACMCF on microbiological criteria and public-health issues, and NACMPI on federal and state meat and poultry inspection programs.
The closures were part of a broader action covering seven discretionary advisory committees. The official records establish that both bodies ended before completing and adopting final reports or recommendations; they do not establish that foodborne-illness risk changed as a result or whether another process later assumed the committees’ work.
Which food safety committees did USDA terminate?
USDA’s May 19, 2025, Federal Register notice named NACMCF and NACMPI among seven discretionary federal advisory committees the Secretary determined were “no longer necessary.” The action was framed under Executive Order 14217, “Commencing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy,” issued February 19, 2025, and USDA Secretary’s Memorandum 1078-002, issued February 20. The notice says the determination was consistent with the Federal Advisory Committee Act and 41 CFR 102-3.55. USDA Federal Register notice.
The two committees’ official database reports give February 20, 2025, as their termination date. They were not the only advisory bodies included in the notice.
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What did the two committees do?
The committees addressed related but distinct policy questions. NACMCF focused on microbiological science and public health across agencies; NACMPI focused on inspection-program activity and USDA regulatory policy.
| Committee | Role | Work and users |
|---|---|---|
| National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF) | Provided scientific advice on microbiological criteria and public-health issues related to food safety. | Supported USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), FDA, CDC, and other agencies. Established in 1988, it helped develop the 1996 Pathogen Reduction and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) rule. Its USDA report estimates that it produced about 249 recommendations over its lifetime; that count does not show how many were adopted or quantify health effects. Federal Advisory Committee Database NACMCF report. |
| National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection (NACMPI) | Discussed food safety concerns and advised the Agriculture Secretary on federal and state inspection-program activities. | Its purpose was to inform USDA regulatory policy development. Federal Advisory Committee Database NACMPI report. |
NACMCF’s role was broader across scientific advice and multiple agencies; NACMPI’s was tied to inspection programs and the Agriculture Secretary’s policy work. They were complementary, not interchangeable.
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What work was left unfinished?
NACMCF’s report says the committee was terminated before completing and adopting its final reports and recommendations. Among the work described as unfinished were advice to FSIS on using pathogen virulence data and work for FDA concerning Cronobacter species in powdered infant formula. NACMPI’s report likewise says it ended before completing and adopting final reports and recommendations. NACMCF report; NACMPI report.
In a March 2025 letter, Senator Richard Blumenthal described the committees’ ongoing work as including FSIS’s Listeria approach, Cronobacter, food-supply-chain resilience, and regulatory compliance. Those points reflect the senator’s characterization and argument, not an independent assessment of the effects of the closures. Blumenthal’s March 2025 letter.
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Does the termination mean food safety functions disappeared?
The records establish that the committees ended and that specified work was unfinished. They do not establish whether another committee, agency process, or other arrangement subsequently took over either committee’s advisory work. A September 2025 White House order continued a specific list of other advisory committees through September 30, 2027; NACMCF and NACMPI are not named in that list. That order does not show that no other mechanism now provides similar advice. September 2025 White House order.
Nor do the termination notices provide a measured estimate of effects on illness, outbreaks, or consumer safety. The committee closures alone are not evidence that foodborne-illness risk either rose or fell.
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