As a PhD medical microbiologist I agree that “I would personally speculate that it is just as possible that the incompetent FDA contaminated their own samples.” especially if there is a little grifting or just plain swindling on the line going on.
The FDA as a whole and each division and each person must have a thorough and competent examination. I just wonder how old their procedures are, etc., and if their “scientists” are not going to yearly or q 2-3 year qualification updates. The result is they either get fired or get them. Microbiology and all its variants aren’t static and must not be.
I hear what you are saying, but I also know that having all the requirements for qualification, being qualified, having valid and reliable processes and procedures, and actually following those procedures are all chains of a link, and rendering any single link invalid can invalidate the entire process!
This I all know from personal experience.
Sigh. I am sure there are many parts of the FDA in which all of these factors are spot on and I unfairly maligned some. Or they may all be good and conscientious workers, but their processes or systems have holes. I have just developed a knee jerk reaction, and take the side of a company or person over a big bureaucratic federal agency. It’s a weakness, I know.