Nearly 1 in 5 positions across the Food and Drug Administration’s human food inspection divisions are now vacant, multiple agency officials tell CBS News, in the wake of departures encouraged by the Trump administration’s cost-cutting efforts and a government-wide hiring freeze that had stalled efforts to replenish their ranks.

While the FDA has long struggled with hiring and retaining qualified investigators to inspect food producers and distributors, multiple federal health officials — who spoke on the condition of anonymity and were not authorized to speak to the press — say that the staffing gap has worsened due to early retirements and resignations.