The Department of Agriculture's Animal Welfare Program
RCED-85-8: Published: May 16, 1985. Publicly Released: May 16, 1985.
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GAO found that: (1) many of the inspectors and regional officials interviewed thought that training was inadequate; (2) the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), which is responsible for animal inspections, did not have a formal scheduling system for inspections; (3) USDA did not inspect many facilities during 1983 because of funding constraints and inadequate staff resources; and (4) while APHIS offices generally complied with policies governing timely corrective actions, there were instances where APHIS did not reinspect violators or failed to properly process corrective actions. GAO also found that: (1) while APHIS has delegated inspection quality assurance functions to its area offices, it has not specified a system or procedure for carrying out such functions; (2) inspection statistics compiled by APHIS for management activities and its annual report were not consistent with statistics maintained by its area offices; and (3) the way in which APHIS fund allocation process led to a wide variance in inspection frequencies among area offices.
Matter for Congressional Consideration
Status: Closed - Not Implemented
Comments: Congress funded the program at least twice since the report was issued without action being taken to increase license fees.
Matter: If Congress decides to continue funding the Animal Welfare Program, it should consider requiring the Secretary of Agriculture to recover more of the cost of the program from licensees, taking into account what the impact of any increases might be on them.
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Explore the full database of GAO's Open Recommendations
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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