Summary: GAO reviewed the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) effectiveness in detecting prohibited chemical residues and foreign matter in imported meat items and live animals.
GAO found that: (1) although the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) developed an annual plan in 1986 which included 406 chemicals for consideration and 100 for testing, it lacked detailed, current information on the chemicals used abroad; (2) FSIS plans to require foreign countries that want to export meat to the United States to submit an annual residue testing plan to USDA; (3) because FSIS met its 1986 testing quotas by May 1, 1986, it did not test meat imported after that date for the full range of residues; (4) FSIS did not always remove from the U.S. food market the remainder of lots that showed chemical violations; (5) in 1986, about 60 percent of imported live animals came from Mexico, which has been ineligible to export meat to the United States since 1984 because of chemical residues; (6) FSIS does not have current information to adequately test for chemicals used in Mexico; and (7) mandating quality control reports and country-of-origin labelling of meat could result in increased food costs and may constitute a nontariff trade barrier.
