GAO Report Faults FDA for Ineffective Oversight of Food Labeling
GAO recently presented a new report, titled Food Labeling: FDA Needs to Better Leverage Resources, Improve Oversight, and Effectively Use Available Data to Help Consumers Select Healthy Foods before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies.
The report claims that FDA oversight, which has failed to keep pace with the growing number of food firms, offers “little assurance that companies comply with food labeling laws and regulations for, among other things, preventing false or misleading labeling.” In particular, GAO found that FDA (i) “does not have reliable data on the number of labels reviewed”; (ii) conducted only “limited” testing for the accuracy of nutrition information for labels from 2000 through 2006; and (iii) “does not track the complete and timely correction of labeling violations or analyze these and other labeling oversight data in routine reports to inform managers’ decisions, or ensure the complete and timely posting of information on its Web site to inform the public.” GAO also noted that despite the increase in the number of food companies under FDA jurisdiction, “the number of warning letters FDA issued to firms that cited food labeling violations has held fairly steady.” Calling on food regulators to “better leverage resources,” the report encourages FDA to adopt several measures to “ensure that labeling office managers have the information they need to oversee compliance with food labeling statutes and regulations.”
U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), who chairs the subcommittee, has reportedly called the GAO conclusions “very troubling,” urging Congress to consider “a major overhaul” of the FDA’s food safety responsibilities. In addition, the Center for Science in the Public Interest issued a press release backing the report and citing several formal complaints the group has filed with FDA “to stop misleading consumer claims.” See CSPI Press Release, October 10, 2008.
FDA, however, has contested these findings, stating that GAO did not place “food labeling in the appropriate context given the agency’s overall public health mission, and the multitude of competing priorities it faces.” See Bloomberg.com, October 9, 2008.
