The Salad in Your Fridge Likely Came From a Farm That No FDA Inspector Has Ever Visited

A Washington Post investigation found that the FDA rarely inspects the overseas facilities that fill American grocery shelves.

Much of the fresh produce Americans buy at the grocery store is grown abroad, but few shoppers know how closely the FDA watches it before it arrives. On Wednesday, October 28, the Post‘s report put a number on it: about 7.6 percent since 2009.

The Post analyzed Food and Drug Administration inspection records for foreign facilities beginning in 2009, alongside fresh-produce import data. Of all foreign facilities, the analysis also found that only 2 percent of Mexican facilities shipping produce to the United States have ever been inspected.

The findings land in a country that generally scores well on food. The 2022 Global Food Security Index ranked the U.S. 13th of 113 nations overall, and third for quality and safety, behind Canada and Denmark. Still, a dozen consumer advocates, farming groups, food safety experts and former FDA officials told the Post they fear that neglecting foreign facilities invites foodborne outbreaks.

Many point to a system not built to keep up. “FDA is not funded appropriately to have enough investigators to go out and do their job,” former FDA official Eric Pittman told the Post.

The numbers bear that out. The agency inspected just 1,024 foreign food facilities in 2025, only 5 percent of its own target. Donald Prater, the FDA’s acting deputy commissioner for food, pushed back in an interview with the Post. “The number of inspections doesn’t exactly tell the whole story,” he said.

Consumers, meanwhile, are growing uneasy. After this summer’s cyclosporiasis outbreak was linked to iceberg lettuce, an October Gallup poll found that only 65 percent of Americans are “very” or “somewhat” confident that the food in their grocery stores is safe.