The FDA Has Missed Its Food Plant Inspection Targets Every Year Since 2018. Retailers’ Auditors Are Filling the Gap.

Federal law sets a schedule for how often the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must inspect food plants. Two federal watchdogs have found the agency is not keeping it, and the retailers that buy the food are setting the bar instead.

TLDR

• FDA has not met its domestic or foreign food inspection targets since fiscal year 2018.
• It inspected 13.5% of domestic food facilities in 2023, down from an average of 17.3% a year before the pandemic.
• 26% of high-risk facilities went past the required three years without an inspection.
• Retailers such as Walmart and Costco require their own annual audits, and FDA inspections do not count toward them.

What the Law Requires

Under the Food Safety Modernization Act, FDA must inspect high-risk domestic food facilities at least once every three years and all other domestic facilities at least once every five years.

What the Watchdogs Found

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported in January 2025 that “FDA has not met its domestic and foreign inspection targets since fiscal year 2018.” From 2018 through 2023, the agency averaged 8,353 domestic and 917 foreign routine inspections a year. The foreign target is 19,200 a year. FDA’s best year, 2019, reached 1,727, about 9% of that target, and the agency told GAO it considers the target “unrealistic and unachievable.” In July 2024, FDA had 432 food investigators.

The Office of Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services followed in 2025. It found FDA inspected an average of 17.3% of domestic food facilities a year before the pandemic, but only 13.7% in 2022 and 13.5% in 2023. 26% of high-risk facilities in continuous operation were not inspected within the required three years. When inspectors did find significant violations, which happened at 1% to 2% of facilities, FDA usually did not follow up in time. FDA agreed with all four of the inspector general’s recommendations. All four remain open, with an update expected in January 2027.

Who Is Filling the Gap

As Food Industry Executive reported this week, the inspector a manufacturer is most likely to see this year works for its customer. Walmart requires an approved annual audit for plants that make its products, and FDA and USDA inspections do not count toward it. Failing to keep one “may result in loss of business and deactivation of your vendor number,” Walmart’s requirements state. Costco calls for one audit a year, usually unannounced, with re-audits within 60 days after a failure.

In Congress, H.R. 8431, the Third-Party Certification and Inspection Modernization Act, was introduced in April 2026 and sits with the House Energy and Commerce Committee, according to the same report.

Why It Matters

Shoppers assume the government is checking the plants that make their food. For most facilities in most years, it is not. Private retail audits now do much of that work, which means food safety depends heavily on who your customer is. Small brands without a big-box buyer may go years without anyone checking at all.

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Sources: GAO-25-107571; HHS Office of Inspector General, OEI-02-23-00300; Food Industry Executive.