President Donald Trump is shutting down a division of the Department of Justice meant to protect consumers from fraud and dangerous products. According to The American Prospect, the Consumer Protection Branch, which was established in 1971, will be dissolved at the end of September, and staff will be reassigned to other areas of the DOJ. In a 2024 document during the Biden administration, the DOJ said that the branch “pursued criminal and civil actions that helped to ensure the safety of critical food and medication relied upon by consumers across the country,” while investigating domestic and international fraud. One of those actions led to a historic $19.2 million fine in 2023 against the Kerry Group, a food and ingredients company that manufactured Honey Smacks cereal tainted with salmonella at a facility in Illinois. The cereal was distributed to 36 states and infected at least 135 people, including a one-year-old and a 95-year-old. The Consumer Protection Branch also went after companies that produced defective medicine and sold illegal medical devices, a psychic mail order fraud, lottery frauds, and a woman peddling a structured settlement scam that ripped off veterans. Trump’s takedown of the branch falls in line with his ongoing attempts to wind down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was created under President Barack Obama. The agency advocates for consumers by informing the public of ripoffs and scams from banks, credit card companies, and other financial firms. The Trump administration tried to fire nearly all of the CFPB’s staff but was halted by Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who ordered for all terminated employees to be reinstated because the administration was acting with “complete disregard” for Congress. Trump’s actions will roll back federal protections for all U.S. consumers, while he and big businesses keep on grifting their way to the top.