Agriculture's Import Meat Inspection Program

In testimony before a congressional subcommittee, GAO discussed its recent report which addressed the need for improved management of the Department of Agriculture's import meat inspection program. GAO had noted that Agriculture did not have a sound basis for comparing foreign countries' overall inspection systems with U.S. inspection methods. GAO had recommended that the agency develop procedures and criteria for reviewing and rating foreign plants and a more systematic method of compiling the results of plant reviews to assess foreign inspection systems' effectiveness in ensuring compliance with U.S. requirements. GAO stated that the agency disagreed with the recommendations directed at improving foreign plant reviews but agreed in principle with the recommendation to sample foreign plants to be reviewed.