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 here
and 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.
