In a memo to her staff, Maggie Glavin, the FDA's assistant commissioner for regulatory affairs, said the decision would give the agency more time to examine its food-safety enforcement role. Glavin's decision makes permanent an earlier FDA move postponing the closure of seven of its 13 field laboratories.
The labs are used to test foods that FDA inspectors suspect may be contaminated. The plan to close the labs, which would have affected about 250 FDA employees, had drawn sharp criticism from some in Congress, where food safety has become a hot topic in the wake of scares over contaminated food imported from China and domestic food-borne illness outbreaks involving bagged spinach and peanut butter.