The Trump administration’s top officials on food, health and environment rewrote a decades-old agreement on testing meat, poultry and egg products for environmental contaminants like heavy metals and pesticides.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin signed an updated memorandum of understanding Friday that drops several transparency and notification obligations that had governed how USDA, HHS and EPA share residue information.
“This new MOU modernizes how our agencies work together and streamlines the way we share information, coordinates scientific expertise, and improves how we detect and address potential risks,” Rollins said in a news release.
Under the 1984 MOU, the three agencies agreed to coordinate on litigation, provide testimony and documents on request, and exchange lists of federally inspected establishments, which are no longer included in the updated agreement. The new MOU also includes additional language on information that should remain confidential and “shall be restricted to authorized” employees.
