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GAO-04-832R 1 (2004-05-26)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaamlw0001 and id is 1 raw text is: I Accountability * Integrity * Reliability United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548 May 26, 2004 The Honorable Jo Ann Davis Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Civil Service and Agency Organization Committee on Government Reform House of Representatives Subject: Posthearing Questions Related to Fragmentation and Overlap in the Federal Food Safety System Dear Chairwoman Davis: On March 30, I testified before your subcommittee at the hearing A System Rued: Inspecting Food.' This report responds to your request that I provide answers to follow-up questions from the hearing. Your questions, along with my responses, follow. (1) Does the lack of a single official responsible for the operations of all food inspection programs in the federal government decrease the effectiveness of congressional oversight? How has the current system affected the oversight work of GAO? As the Comptroller General stressed in his September 2003 testimony before the subcommittee,2 the current structure of the food safety system in general, and the food inspection programs in particular, could be improved by reducing the number of entities charged with oversight, thereby enhancing accountability and increasing government efficiency. From a congressional perspective, the fragmented nature of the food inspection system results in divided, and perhaps diluted, responsibility for ensuring a safe food supply and protecting the public health. For example, congressional oversight committees and GAO must review and analyze multiple agencies' programs, policies, and budgets, in order to address questions of overall food safety oversight, rather than focus on food safety inspection programs under one agency's jurisdiction. In particular, it is difficult to compare program effectiveness when the agencies responsible for maintaining food safety are operating 'U.S. General Accounting Office, Federal Food Safety and Security System: Fundamental Restructuring Is Needed to Address Fragmentation and Overlap, GAO-04-588T (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 30, 2004). 2U.S. General Accounting Office, Results-Oriented Government: Shaping the Government to Meet 21st Century Challenges, GAO-03-1168T (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 17, 2003). GAO-04-832R Food Safety Overlap

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