GAO Continues to Include Food Safety in High-Risk Series Report

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued an update to
its “High-Risk Series” report in which it attempts to “focus attention on
government operations that it identifies as high risk due to their greater
vulnerabilities to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement or the need for
transformation to address economy, efficiency, or effectiveness challenges.”
Among other matters, the report continues to call for revamping federal
oversight of food safety.

Citing the nationwide 2010 Salmonella-tainted egg recall as an example,
GAO contends that fragmented federal oversight has created food safety
challenges. While the Food Safety Modernization Act has expanded Food and
Drug Administration oversight authority, GAO recommends that Congress
“also consider enacting comprehensive, uniform, and risk-based food safety
legislation [and] commissioning a detailed analysis of alternative organizational
structures for food safety.”