Posted December 24, 2014
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a study, Federal Food Safety Oversight: Additional Actions Needed to Improve Planning and Collaboration, stating that the federal government is underachieving in terms of food safety. Food Safety News also published an article available here.
“The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have taken steps to implement GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 (GPRAMA) requirements but could more fully address crosscutting food safety efforts,” according to the report.
The USDA and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) “need to better coordinate on a vision of a federal food-safety culture,” according to Food Safety News.
In 2011, GAO recommended that the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) develop a food safety performance plan so that Congress and regulators can achieve long-term goals.
“[The] (FDA) and USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) have mechanisms in place to facilitate interagency coordination on food safety that focus on specific issues, but none provides for broad-based, centralized collaboration,” according to the report.
GAO stated that federal oversight of food safety is a high-risk in the economy and public health and safety areas.
The GAO also listed two recommendations for the HHS and USDA to successfully implement GPRAMA requirements to address food safety efforts.
“Congress should consider (1) directing OMB to develop a government-wide food safety performance plan and (2) formalizing the FSWG through statute to help ensure sustained leadership across food safety agencies over time.”
For more information, the full report is available hereand a one-page highlights report is available on GAO’s site here.
For more information on food safety, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
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