Food Safety and Quality

Five Countries' Efforts to Meet U.S. Requirements on Imported Produce Gao ID: RCED-90-55 March 22, 1990

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed: (1) government and private-sector pesticide controls over exported fresh produce in five countries; (2) federal agencies' efforts to help foreign countries improve their pesticide registration and practices; and (3) U.S., state, and private industry responsibilities in monitoring imported produce.

GAO found that: (1) the foreign governments' pesticide registration practices affected the presence and composition of pesticide residues on their exported produce; (2) the foreign governments allowed the use of 110 registered pesticides that did not have Environmental Protection Agency-established tolerance levels; (3) like the United States, the foreign governments did not design their food safety and quality systems to meet other countries' import requirements, but rather to address domestic needs and issues; (4) exporting countries faced many varied pesticide requirements; (5) some countries' export sectors tried to use management practices that considered U.S. pesticide residue requirements; (6) the Uruguay Round of Negotiations on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade included proposals to harmonize food safety and sanitary requirements as a way to reduce their use as technical trade barriers; and (7) several U.S. agencies and international organizations provided assistance related to pesticide use to developing countries.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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