Proposed Changes in Meat and Poultry Net Weight Labeling Regulations Based on Insufficient Data

Gao ID: CED-79-28 December 20, 1978

The revised regulations proposed by the Department of Agriculture for assuring net weight compliance with federal weight labeling laws for meat and poultry products are reviewed.

Choosing a net weight regulatory system for meat and poultry products will be economically significant. The proposed regulations, which have been sharply debated, would exclude the estimated weight of moisture loss and the weight of the liquid remaining in the package from the product's net weight in determining net weight compliance; require a mandatory plant- operated quality-control system for net weight compliance; outline sampling procedures to determine net weight compliance; and include provisions regulating the net weights of bulk shipments from processors to retailers for further processing and packaging. The Department of Agriculture has not gathered adequate data to determine whether the current system needs to be changed or whether the proposed system or other possible alternatives would be more economical and practical than the current system.

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.

Director: No director on record Team: No team on record Phone: No phone on record


The Justia Government Accountability Office site republishes public reports retrieved from the U.S. GAO These reports should not be considered official, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Justia.