GAO critical of USDA, FDA food recall policies

GAO critical of USDA, FDA food recall policies    The U.S. Government Accountability Office said in a report this week the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration must do more to ensure food recalls are efficiently carried out.
   The GAO report said the agencies’ programs “heighten the risk that unsafe food will remain in the food supply and ultimately be consumed.”
   Two large food recalls completed in 2003 were associated with eight deaths and nearly 100 serious illnesses in at least 16 states, the GAO report said. Manufacturers voluntarily recall potentially unsafe food by notifying their customers to return or destroy it.
   The GAO warned in its report that “most recalled food is not recovered and therefore may be consumed.”
   The USDA and FDA told the GAO of instances in which companies were slow to reveal where they had distributed tainted food or provided inaccurate customer lists. “That distribution information is critical because USDA’s and FDA’s primary role in recalls is to monitor the effectiveness of a company’s recall actions,” the GAO report said.
   The GAO report pointed out that agencies overseeing the safety of other products, such as toys, heart pacemakers, and autos, have specific recall authority that the USDA and FDA do not have for food. This authority includes the requirement of a company to notify the agency when it has distributed a potentially unsafe product, order recalls, establish recall requirements, and impose penalties for non-compliance.
   The GAO report recommended that Congress consider legislation for companies to notify USDA and FDA of unsafe food releases. In addition, the GAO said Congress should allow the agencies to issue recalls and increase their monitoring of the recall process.