Department of Agriculture - Food Safety and Quality Assurance Program and Non-Food Product Quality Assurance Program

This report addressed the Department’s Food Safety and Quality Assurance Program and its Non-Food Product Quality Assurance Program. Specifically, the auditors surveyed members of the citrus, fruit, and vegetable industry and found that they had some concerns regarding the Department’s operation of its Citrus, Fruit, and Vegetable Standardization Program. For example, the survey respondents questioned the program’s value, expressed interest in “opting out” of the program, and voiced strong feelings against paying more in assessments to add inspection resources, including improving the efficiency of its inspections, data analysis, and communication with program participants. The report also addresses the Department’s need to strengthen cash receipt controls at its Federal/State Inspection Service’s Nogales Office, which collects nearly $2 million annually for inspecting fruits and vegetables entering the United States from Mexico. 

In addition, a review of the Department’s non-food product sampling plans revealed that its current sampling efforts are inadequate to ensure the quality and label accuracy of feed, fertilizer, pesticide, and seed products. Specifically, the plans lack a sampling frame, which is a comprehensive list of retailers of the products being sampled, and fail to make effective use of violation data to develop, monitor, or change its sampling of non-food products. To ensure that its non-food product program adequately protects the public and makes efficient and effective use of resources, the Department should develop and implement appropriate sampling plans which include sampling frames, to the extent possible, and adequately consider violation data.