The Department of Agriculture's Animal Welfare Program
RCED-85-8: Published: May 16, 1985. Publicly Released: May 16, 1985.
Additional Materials:
- Full Report:
Contact:
(202) 512-9450
contact@gao.gov
Office of Public Affairs
(202) 512-4800
youngc1@gao.gov
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.
Explore the full database of GAO's Open Recommendations
»
Explore the full database of GAO's Open Recommendations
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
Explore our Key Issues on Agriculture and Food
Explore our other Key Issues here
