We’re halfway through the week! It’s Wednesday, March 5th, 2025. Here’s a roundup of today’s essential food safety stories. Let’s get into the news.

What to know: Following an order from a federal judge, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management walked back its order to agencies to fire probationary employees.

Probationary employees include workers who have been hired in the past three years. Dozens of workers at the Food and Drug Administration were terminated because of the order from the OPM.

An audit in Ireland has found most inspections at fish producers were carried out with prior notice despite a requirement for them to be unannounced.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) audited the effectiveness of official controls by the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) at ready-to-eat (RTE) fishery product establishments.

OPINION by Dr. Peter G. Lurie

“If I were a Senator conducting a confirmation hearing for Dr. Marty Makary, the nominee to be the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, my first question to him would be: ‘Who, in fact, will be running this agency? You, Dr. Makary? Or Elon Musk and his unaccountable team of technocrats?’”

What to know: The number of people sick as part of an outbreak in Singapore has risen to almost 200.

In February, 20 students from the School of the Arts (SOTA) became ill after having ready-to-eat (RTE) meals during the Food Resilience Preparedness Programme, as part of the Total Defence Day commemoration.

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Willow Marsh Farm has ceased sales of its unpasteurized, raw milk after tests showed it was positive for Listeria monocytogenes.

The New York dairy announced the test results on its Facebook page. The dairy had been awaiting confirmation test results, which it received on March 4.

AKT Trading Inc. of Torrance, CA, is recalling certain prepared vegetable products manufactured by Choshiya Honten Co. Ltd. because of a potential risk of Clostridium botulinum, the bacterium which causes botulism poisoning.