Changes Underway To Correct Inadequacies in Florida's Meat and Poultry Inspection Program
RCED-83-70: Published: Dec 30, 1982. Publicly Released: Jan 31, 1983.
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In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed Florida's meat and poultry inspection program, focusing attention on deficiencies found by the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and on Florida's actions with respect to these and other deficiencies found by its own compliance personnel.
The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service inspects interstate meat and poultry plants to ensure the safety and accurate labeling of products. It also monitors State inspection programs which must be at least equal to those of the Federal Government. GAO noted that the service's ratings of the Florida program for the past 3 years were consistently lower than other State programs and showed no significant improvement trend. Deficiencies involved violations of Federal acts pertaining to interstate export, improper use of USDA and State inspection marks, and misbranding and mislabeling of products. GAO learned that, in 1982, Florida established an organization to monitor compliance with its inspection laws and regulations, and it formalized the State's procedures for following up on deficiencies found by USDA. A small number of violations were classified by this unit as serious and involved processing without State inspection or selling uninspected meat. Although these efforts by the State were too recent to be reflected in current USDA ratings, GAO believes that the changes in meat and poultry inspection in Florida indicate that the State has taken positive steps to upgrade its program.
Jul 17, 2018
Summer Meals:
Improvements Needed to Address Participation Estimates and Program ChallengesGAO-18-611T: Published: Jul 17, 2018. Publicly Released: Jul 17, 2018.
Jul 2, 2018
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Summer Meals:
Actions Needed to Improve Participation Estimates and Address Program ChallengesGAO-18-369: Published: May 31, 2018. Publicly Released: Jul 2, 2018.
Jun 5, 2018
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Farm Programs:
Information on Payments [Reissued with Revisions Jun. 05, 2018]GAO-18-384R: Published: May 18, 2018. Publicly Released: May 18, 2018.
Apr 18, 2018
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Food Safety:
USDA Should Take Further Action to Reduce Pathogens in Meat and Poultry ProductsGAO-18-272: Published: Mar 19, 2018. Publicly Released: Apr 18, 2018.
Apr 16, 2018
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Food Safety:
Federal Efforts to Manage the Risk of Arsenic in RiceGAO-18-199: Published: Mar 16, 2018. Publicly Released: Apr 16, 2018.
Apr 10, 2018
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U.S. Department of Agriculture:
Additional Data Analysis Could Enhance Monitoring of U.S. Cattle MarketGAO-18-296: Published: Apr 10, 2018. Publicly Released: Apr 10, 2018.
Mar 5, 2018
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Food Safety and Nutrition:
FDA Can Build on Existing Efforts to Measure Progress and Implement Key ActivitiesGAO-18-174: Published: Jan 31, 2018. Publicly Released: Mar 5, 2018.
Nov 30, 2017
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WIC:
USDA's Review of Vegetables Available under the Program Followed Leading Research PracticesGAO-18-125R: Published: Nov 30, 2017. Publicly Released: Nov 30, 2017.
Nov 27, 2017
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Food Safety:
FDA Continues to Evaluate and Respond to Business Concerns about the Produce RuleGAO-18-85: Published: Nov 27, 2017. Publicly Released: Nov 27, 2017.
Nov 21, 2017
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Agricultural Promotion Programs:
USDA Could Build on Existing Efforts to Further Strengthen Its OversightGAO-18-54: Published: Nov 21, 2017. Publicly Released: Nov 21, 2017.
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