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A Food Safety News publisher says he is filing seven petitions with the FDA and USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, seeking changes to food testing, warnings, outbreak investigations and disclosure. The petitions cover infant formula, raw-milk cheese, sprouts, poultry and outbreak-linked animal operations and firms; agency responses and the petitions’ ultimate outcomes remain unknown.
Food Safety News publisher Bill Marler says he is submitting seven petitions to the FDA and USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, asking the agencies to expand food testing, require consumer warnings, improve outbreak investigations and disclose firms implicated by evidence. The requests target several foods and outbreak procedures, but the report does not establish that either agency has accepted or acted on them.
The petitions address powdered infant formula, raw-milk cheese, raw and lightly cooked sprouts, raw poultry, access to animal feeding operations during outbreak investigations, and the identification of firms linked to outbreaks. Marler says the proposals were developed with his law firm’s staff, scientists, physicians, families affected by outbreaks and other food-safety advocates. The source describes seven petitions, while the supplied account details six subject areas; it does not provide the seventh petition’s subject or request.
For infant formula, the petition asks FDA to add botulinum neurotoxin-producing clostridia to required finished-product testing and require testing of dairy ingredients used in formula. Marler’s report says 52 infants have been hospitalized with botulism in the ByHeart and Nara Organics outbreaks since 2023, and that the organism was found in a dairy ingredient. He says 46 parents of 24 of the infants are co-petitioners. Those figures and outbreak details are reported by Marler; the article does not provide independent agency findings alongside them.
Other requests include prescribed warning labels for raw-milk cheese and packaged raw or lightly cooked sprouts; treating Salmonella at or above 1 CFU per gram as an adulterant in raw ground chicken, ground turkey and chicken parts, or alternatively targeting three serotypes; and allowing FDA to collect samples at an animal feeding operation when the agency has determined in writing that it is implicated in a multistate outbreak. A separate request would clarify that evidence-supported identities of implicated firms are not confidential commercial information. The supplied source cuts off before the full wording of that disclosure request and does not describe the seventh petition.
The Petitions Target Known Gaps
The proposals focus on moments when testing, warning labels or timely access to evidence could affect how food is made, investigated or chosen. A warning on a package would put advice at the point of purchase or consumption; broader poultry testing could change which products are treated as adulterated; and access to outbreak-linked sites could help investigators collect samples. These are the petitioners’ requested outcomes, not changes already adopted by regulators.
Disclosure is another public-health issue raised by the petitions. If agencies identify a food but do not name an implicated business, consumers may have difficulty determining whether a product is connected to an outbreak. Marler argues that FDA has disclosed firms in comparable circumstances before. Whether the agency agrees that existing law supports the requested standard, or adopts a new written policy, remains open.
The petitions also matter because they put several separate regulatory decisions into formal requests that agencies can review. Their filing alone does not prove that a proposed rule or warning will follow. The practical effect will depend on whether FDA and FSIS respond, what evidence they accept and whether they begin rulemaking or other agency action.
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Earlier Rules and Agency Steps
Marler frames the petitions as requests to complete or formalize work he says agencies have previously promised, undertaken for some foods, or discussed publicly without putting into binding requirements. For sprouts, he says FDA has advised children, older adults, pregnant people and people with weakened immune systems not to eat them raw for 28 years, but has not required that advice on product packaging.
For cheese, the petition challenges the federal 60-day aging rule for certain raw-milk cheeses. Marler says FDA announced a reevaluation in 2013 and cites agency science as questioning whether aging reliably controls pathogens. The petition asks FDA to complete that reevaluation and require producers relying on aging to validate that it works.
For poultry, the source says FSIS designated Salmonella at or above 1 CFU per gram an adulterant in breaded stuffed raw chicken products in May 2024, then withdrew a later proceeding on other raw poultry in April 2025. Marler says verification sampling announced in 2024 was postponed indefinitely in December 2025. These dates and descriptions are presented in his account of the petition; the supplied material does not include agency documents to independently assess them.
“I have spent more than thirty years suing companies after people get sick. This year I have spent a fair amount of time trying to put myself out of business.”
— Bill Marler, Food Safety News publisher
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Agency Responses Are Not Reported
The supplied report does not give FDA or FSIS responses, filing receipts, review schedules or decisions on any petition. It also details only six subject areas despite describing seven petitions, and the source text ends partway through the request about naming firms. The exact scope of the remaining petition and the complete wording of the disclosure proposal are therefore unavailable here.
The outbreak statistics, descriptions of prior agency actions and interpretations of agency authority come from Marler’s account. The material does not include responses from the agencies, the food businesses discussed or independent documentation for those claims. It is also not clear which requests, if any, would require rulemaking, how long review would take, or whether regulators would grant them in full or in part.
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Petition Review Will Determine the Path
The next step is for FDA and FSIS to receive and review the petitions. The source does not state when they were formally filed, whether the agencies have acknowledged them, or when a response is expected. Readers should distinguish the requests from rules currently in force: no new testing duty, warning label or disclosure standard is established by the account itself.
Any agency response could clarify whether officials will deny a request, take action under existing authority, or begin a rulemaking or policy process. Until those steps are documented, the proposals remain petitions and the status of each request should be treated as unresolved.
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Key Questions
What are the seven petitions asking regulators to do?
The report describes requests on infant-formula testing, raw-milk cheese and sprout warnings, poultry Salmonella controls, outbreak access to animal operations, and disclosure of implicated firms. Although it says there are seven petitions, the supplied account identifies only six subject areas and does not specify the remaining one.
Have FDA or FSIS adopted any of the proposed changes?
The source reports petitions, not adopted rules or completed agency decisions. It gives no agency response or decision timetable.
What warning labels are being requested?
The petitions ask FDA to require prescribed warnings on cheese made from raw milk and packaged raw or lightly cooked sprouts, including sprouts used in salads, sandwiches and wraps. These are requests, not confirmed labeling requirements.
What would the poultry petition change?
It asks FSIS to treat Salmonella at or above 1 CFU per gram as an adulterant in raw ground chicken, ground turkey and chicken parts, with an alternative request focused on three serotypes. The report does not say FSIS has agreed to the proposal.
Why does the article say the petition count is unclear?
The headline and opening describe seven petitions, but the supplied text lists six topics and ends before completing the final request. The seventh petition’s subject cannot be established from the material provided.
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