Food Safety: Risk-Based Inspections and Microbial Monitoring Needed for
Meat and Poultry (Testimony, 04/19/94, GAO/T-RCED-94-189).

Because of outdated statutory requirements for visual inspection of meat
and poultry, the federal Food Safety and Inspection Service is unable to
target scarce resources to detect microbial contamination, a primary
cause of foodborne disease.  Over the past 15 years, GAO and others have
reported repeatedly that the federal meat and poultry system is obsolete
and must be replaced with a scientific, risk-based system that can
better protect the public.  This testimony, in addition to discussing
why the federal system falls short in addressing microbial
contamination, also examines industry use of microbial testing programs.
GAO also critiques the Food Safety and Inspection Service's proposal
that meat and poultry plants implement a quality control system known as
hazard analysis and critical control point.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  T-RCED-94-189
     TITLE:  Food Safety: Risk-Based Inspections and Microbial 
             Monitoring Needed for Meat and Poultry
      DATE:  04/19/94
   SUBJECT:  Quality control
             Meat inspection
             Poultry inspection
             Contaminated foods
             Hazardous substances
             Risk management
             Safety standards
             Meat packing industry
             Poultry industry
             Consumer protection
IDENTIFIER:  FSIS Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point System
             
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