GAO Finds FDA's Imported Seafood Safety Program Shows Some Progress, But Improvements are Needed
On January 30, 2004, the General Accounting Office (GAO) issued a report to Congressional requesters entitled Food Safety: FDA's Imported Seafood Safety Program Shows Some Progress, but Further Improvements are Needed.
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The GAO states that since it reported in 2001 that the FDA's seafood inspection program did not sufficiently protect consumers, the program has shown some improvement. The GAO explains that the FDA inspects more foreign firms and its inspections show that more U.S. seafood importers are complying with its requirements. In addition, the FDA slightly increased the number of seafood products it tests at U.S. ports of entry to just over 1%.
Highlights of GAO Recommendations for FDA Imported Seafood Safety Program
Despite the above described improvements, the GAO found that the FDA has made little progress toward other recommendations made in 2001. As such, the GAO recommends that FDA do the following (partial list):
Make it a priority to establish equivalence or other agreements with seafood exporting countries, starting with countries having high-quality food safety systems;
Develop a system to track the time involved in processing enforcement actions;
Consider accrediting private laboratories; and
Work toward developing a memorandum of understanding with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to use NOAA's resources, such as commissioning seafood inspectors from its Seafood Inspection Program;
The GAO notes that the FDA generally agreed with all of its recommendations, except the recommendation on making it a priority to establish equivalence or other agreements with seafood exporting countries.
GAO Report (GAO-04-246, dated January 2004) available at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04246.pdf