CBS News reports on its website that the Food and Drug Administration is doing fewer food safety inspections than they normally do because of the partial government shutdown. The agency “said it is working to bring back about 150 employees to restart inspections of high-risk facilities as early as next week, but inspections of routine facilities are at a standstill.”

Politico reports Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said that he was working to resume operations of high risk food processing operations. Gottlieb tweeted, “We’re taking steps to expand the scope of food safety surveillance inspections we’re doing during the shutdown to make sure we continue inspecting high risk food facilities.”

Forbes contributor Joshua Cohen writes that the FDA has furloughed around “40% of its employees,” which is not only affecting food safety, but also drug development.

From the news release of the American Association for Justice.