Further Federal Action Needed To Detect and Control Environmental Contamination of Food

GAO was requested to investigate the circumstances surrounding an incident involving the contamination of chickens and other food items in several Western States by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB). Because numerous Federal, State, and local investigators were checking into the situation at the time, it was decided that GAO would monitor the Federal agencies' investigations and report the corrective actions taken or planned to prevent similar incidents.

In the opinion of GAO, the Food Safety and Quality Service (FSQS) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) took too long to identify and control the incident. The unnecessary delay was due primarily to the agencies' handling the incident as a routine matter. At least $3.5 million in costs as well as the risk to human health could have been avoided if the contamination had been identified and controlled earlier. FSQS and FDA, with help from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), have taken actions to try to prevent similar incidents or to help them deal more effectively with any future occurrences. The three agencies also developed and published proposed regulations that would require removing all equipment containing PCB from food production and feed facilities. The Office of Technology Assessment identified several ways to improve the Federal response to the problem. Among its suggestions was that a lead agency be designated or a Federal assistance center be established to handle responses to contamination problems. The Departments of Agriculture, Health and Human Services (HHS), and EPA have taken a number of actions in response to previous GAO recommendations. The actions have resulted in: (1) improvements in the marketing of raw meat and poultry; (2) better regulation of pesticide exports and pesticide residues in imported food; (3) better coordination of pesticide residue testing and of contamination investigations; and (4) better control of hazardous wastes.

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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