Summary: A follow-up survey performed at the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Boston and headquarters offices to evaluate sanitary conditions in selected food industries revealed that: (1) FDA current strategy for inspecting food manufacturing plants has resulted in improved surveillance of food manufacturing firms; (2) sanitary conditions in the shellfish manufacturing industry have not improved appreciably since the previous report of GAO; and (3) FDA has litle evidence to support its contention that sanitary conditions of restaurants may be improving. State restaurant sanitation programs were often fragmented and duplicative, and many state programs suffered from inadequate resources and poor planning. FDA should more vigorously encourage state and local governments to adopt provisions contained in the model food service sanitation ordinance, identify deficiencies in states' programs, develop methods for improved administration of state and local programs, and periodically assess the sanitary conditions of restaurants to determine the impact of FDA assistance efforts.
