GAO Issues Report on Promoting Healthy Eating Across Agencies

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report suggesting that federal agencies can better coordinate guidance on healthy eating. The report found that GAO’s previous recommendations had not been implemented, including a 2021 recommendation that Congress “consider identifying and directing a federal entity to lead a strategy on diet-related efforts.” The agency also recommended in 2017 that the presidential administration develop a strategy for federal food oversight.

“We have long reported on the fragmented federal food safety oversight system. We added federal oversight of food safety to our high-risk list in 2007; federal government operations on this list either need broad reform or are vulnerable to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement. We added this issue to the list because of inconsistent oversight, ineffective coordination, and inefficient use of resources. For example, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) had critical information on contaminated eggs that ultimately sickened more than 1,900 people in 2010. Because of the divided regulatory environment, USDA did not share this information with agencies that had the authority and ability to act on it. If the agencies had received this information, they could have limited the scope of the ensuing recall of more than 500 million eggs by targeting those that were more likely to be contaminated, according to USDA’s Office of Inspector General.”