The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced that is has extended the compliance date for the Food Traceability Rule by two and a half years to mid 2028.

The rule was set to commence in January 2026, and imposes additional traceablity requirements on producers, manufacturers, distributors and others in the food supply chain for listed products that require higher levels of food safety.

The commencement of the 2nd term of the Trump Presidency has seen a number of upheavals in the FDA, including the retrenchment of thousands of Federal employees, and the resignation of the head of the Food Division of the organisation. According to media reports on NBC, “Jones said the firing of 89 people in the food division effectively dismantled the group”.

More broadly, an Executive Order titled “Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Deregulatory Initiative” has required a “deregulation drive“, mandated the reduction of regulation costs and ‘red tape’.

In addition to traceability rules, other rules such as the ‘Healthy’ content claim rule has aso been postponed until 2028.