US Department of Agriculture puts some food researchers on leave

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON, Sept 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture has placed on leave a team of federal economists and researchers responsible for the government's main survey on food insecurity, the union representing some of the workers said on Tuesday.

About a dozen employees, all involved with economic research at the USDA, were put on leave, said Laura Dodson, a chapter vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees union.

President Donald Trump's administration said over the weekend it has canceled the USDA's annual food insecurity survey, ending a decades-long effort to track how many Americans struggle to access enough food.

Anti-hunger advocates say the USDA's decision to end its annual food insecurity survey will make it harder to measure the impact of the Trump administration's cuts to nutrition programs such as food stamps.

About 13.5% of U.S. households were food-insecure at some point in 2023, the most recent USDA report says.

When asked about the food researchers put on leave, the USDA said, without elaborating, that some employees made "unauthorized disclosure of non-public information." The union said the department offered no clarification on its claims.