Internal Controls

Program to Address Problem Meat and Poultry Plants Needs Improvement Gao ID: RCED-89-55 March 31, 1989

Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO assessed the Food Safety and Inspection Service's (FSIS) Intensified Regulatory Enforcement (IRE) Program at 10 meat and poultry plants.

GAO found that: (1) although FSIS has instituted IRE at 42 plants nationwide since 1984, the program has only been partially successful; (2) 24 plants improved their operations and graduated from the program, 1 plant went bankrupt, 7 plants were removed from the program permanently, and 4 plants changed ownership; (3) 24 plants that graduated from IRE improved their conditions within 1 year, while 7 plants were under IRE for less than 1 year; and (4) 7 of the 10 plants that graduated from IRE violated health, safety, and product standards at unacceptable levels, and 1 plant reentered the program for the second time. GAO also found that FSIS: (1) records showed that some graduating plants had sanitary problems, excessive levels of antibiotics and animal residue in livestock, and experienced higher cattle condemnation rates than the national average; (2) lacked adequate systems to monitor plants that graduated from IRE, and failed to take action against plants with recurring problems; (3) failed to ensure that all meat and poultry plants were identified and considered for IRE because of an inadequate survey methodology; and (4) relied on the plants' internal inspectors and field supervisors to identify problem plants for IRE.

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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