FDA Regulation of Dietary Supplements
HRD-93-28R: Published: Jul 2, 1993. Publicly Released: Jul 2, 1993.
Additional Materials:
- Full Report:
Contact:
Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) management activities related to the regulation of dietary supplements. GAO noted that: (1) although FDA has the authority to regulate dietary supplements to ensure that they are safe and not misleading, it does not regulate dietary supplements in the same manner as food additives or other products unless there is concern over public health safety or misbranding; (2) FDA inspects alleged dietary supplement violations on a case-by-case basis rather than scheduling routine periodic inspections of dietary companies; (3) of the 290 enforcement actions FDA initiated against dietary supplement manufacturers and marketers between 1989 and 1992, 250 were a result of product mislabeling and the remainder were a result of product safety violations; (4) FDA allocation of resources for dietary supplement actions is determined by the information it receives about problem products and its public health risk assessment; and (5) between 1988 and 1992, FDA estimated that the resources expended to address reported problems ranged from 13 to 57 full-time-equivalent employees.
Jan 15, 2021
-
Farmworkers:
Additional Information Needed to Better Protect Workers from Pesticide ExposureGAO-21-63: Published: Jan 15, 2021. Publicly Released: Jan 15, 2021.
Nov 20, 2020
-
Food Safety:
CDC Could Further Strengthen Its Efforts to Identify and Respond to Foodborne IllnessesGAO-21-23: Published: Oct 21, 2020. Publicly Released: Nov 20, 2020.
Nov 16, 2020
-
Farm Programs:
USDA Has Improved Its Completion of Eligibility Compliance Reviews, but Additional Oversight Is NeededGAO-21-95: Published: Oct 30, 2020. Publicly Released: Nov 16, 2020.
Sep 16, 2020
-
Agriculture Spending:
Opportunities Exist for USDA to Identify Successes and Challenges of the Farmers to Families Food Box Program to Inform Future EffortsGAO-20-711R: Published: Sep 16, 2020. Publicly Released: Sep 16, 2020.
Sep 14, 2020
-
USDA Market Facilitation Program:
Information on Payments for 2019GAO-20-700R: Published: Aug 21, 2020. Publicly Released: Sep 14, 2020.
Aug 10, 2020
-
National Bio and Agro-defense Facility:
DHS and USDA Are Working to Transfer Ownership and Prepare for Operations, but Critical Steps RemainGAO-20-331: Published: Jul 10, 2020. Publicly Released: Aug 10, 2020.
May 7, 2020
-
Food Safety:
FDA and USDA Could Strengthen Existing Efforts to Prepare for Oversight of Cell-Cultured MeatGAO-20-325: Published: Apr 7, 2020. Publicly Released: May 7, 2020.
Apr 13, 2020
-
Priority Open Recommendations:
U.S. Department of AgricultureGAO-20-288PR: Published: Apr 6, 2020. Publicly Released: Apr 13, 2020.
Dec 23, 2019
-
Nutrition Assistance Programs:
Agencies Could Do More to Help Address the Nutritional Needs of Older AdultsGAO-20-18: Published: Nov 21, 2019. Publicly Released: Dec 23, 2019.
Dec 6, 2019
-
Imported Seafood Safety:
Actions Needed to Improve FDA Oversight of Import Alert Removal DecisionsGAO-20-62: Published: Nov 6, 2019. Publicly Released: Dec 6, 2019.
Looking for more? Browse all our products here