Followup on the National Marine Fisheries Service's Efforts To Assess the Quality of U.S.-Produced Seafood

In a prior report, GAO stated that a comprehensive assessment is needed of the quality of seafood produced by U.S. processors for domestic and foreign consumption. GAO pointed out several examples of foreign complaints about U.S. exports and noted that consumer and industry publications have been critical of the quality of U.S. seafood products. Since the earlier report was issued, GAO has collected additional information on the quality of U.S. seafood products that further demonstrates the importance of the recommended study.

Variable quality, as well as prices, marketing techniques, and other factors inhibit the demand for U.S. seafood products in foreign markets. However, evidence is not readily available to demonstrate conclusively the specific extent and degree that variable quality impedes U.S. exports. Additionally, the National Marine Fisheries Service's voluntary inspection and certification program does not assure importers that U.S. products will meet or satisfy their quality requirements primarily because inspectors are not familiar with or trained in foreign quality standards. The quality of U.S. exports, as well as domestic products, can be improved by better onboard seafood handling techniques. Incentives, such as price differentials, to fisherman for higher quality products could help in achieving needed improvements.

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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