Agriculture and Food

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School Meals: USDA Should Address Challenges in Its “Foods in Schools” Program
GAO-23-105697
Jul 14, 2023
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3 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Agriculture The Secretary of Agriculture should develop a mechanism to routinely and systematically identify and address challenges to operating the USDA Foods in Schools program. For example, the agency could add relevant questions to the annual School Meals Operations Study, and create and implement a plan to address findings. (Recommendation 1)
Open
USDA agreed with this recommendation and said it has made significant efforts to identify and address challenges in the USDA Foods in Schools program. For example, the agency said it has conducted listening sessions with stakeholders and initiated actions based on the feedback. USDA also said it has used surveys of SFAs and other formal research to inform the agency's priorities regarding the USDA Foods in Schools program. USDA said it will continue to engage with partner organizations to identify areas of concern and solutions, and will continue to establish ways to more routinely and systematically identify and address challenges related to USDA Foods in Schools. We will monitor the progress of these activities.
Department of Agriculture The Secretary of Agriculture should ensure that the Administrator of FNS establishes guidelines for timely communication with states on the USDA Foods in Schools program. For example, the guidelines could distinguish response times regarding specific orders and general policy questions. (Recommendation 2)
Open
USDA agreed with this recommendation. The agency said it would seek input from state agencies during upcoming meetings and conferences about the best way that USDA can meet states' needs and ensure timely communication. We will monitor the progress of these efforts and await the establishment of guidelines.
Department of Agriculture The Secretary of Agriculture should ensure that the Administrator of FNS systematically identifies and shares promising practices and lessons learned with states related to the USDA Foods in Schools program, for example, by creating a repository or toolkit on the agency's public website that is accessible to all states. (Recommendation 3)
Open
USDA agreed with this recommendation. The agency said it supports a variety of efforts to facilitate the sharing of promising practices through promoting state interaction and communication. USDA said it would work to develop a repository of USDA Foods in Schools resources for states on the public website to supplement resources already available to states. We will monitor the progress of these efforts.

Meat and Poultry Worker Safety: OSHA Should Determine How to Address Persistent Hazards Exacerbated by COVID-19
GAO-23-105104
Jun 20, 2023
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3 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Labor The Secretary of the Department of Labor should ensure that OSHA assesses and reports on which actions—such as an industry-specific standard—are needed to protect meat and poultry workers from the numerous hazards they face, including the risk of infectious disease. OSHA could decide to request assistance from CDC's NIOSH in this process. (Recommendation 1)
Open
DOL did not provide comments on this recommendation. However, they do plan to provide comments in the future, which we will await.
Department of Agriculture The Secretary of the Department of Agriculture should ensure that the Food Safety and Inspection Service meets regularly with DOL's OSHA through their interagency workgroup to resolve longstanding collaboration challenges and incorporate leading collaboration practices. In incorporating these practices, the agencies should clearly define short and long-term outcomes, track and monitor progress towards these outcomes, and publicly report collaborative outcomes. (Recommendation 2)
Open
USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) agreed with this recommendation and noted its commitment to partnering with OSHA and to doing a better job collaborating to resolve challenges. Specifically, FSIS stated that it is committed to clearly defining short- and long-term outcomes, tracking and monitoring progress, and publicly reporting collaborative outcomes related to meat and poultry worker safety. We laud these plans and, as FSIS and OSHA develop additional outcomes through their workgroup, we encourage them to clearly link these outcomes to the leading collaboration practices and to the challenges we identified in this report.
Department of Labor The Secretary of the Department of Labor should ensure that OSHA meets regularly with USDA's FSIS through their interagency workgroup to resolve longstanding collaboration challenges and incorporate leading collaboration practices. In incorporating these practices, the agencies should clearly define short- and long-term outcomes, track and monitor progress towards these outcomes, and publicly report collaborative outcomes. (Recommendation 3)
Open
DOL did not provide comments on this recommendation. However, they do plan to provide comments in the future, which we will await.

Combating Illegal Fishing: Better Information Sharing Could Enhance U.S. Efforts to Target Seafood Imports for Investigation
GAO-23-105643
Jun 20, 2023
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
United States Customs and Border Protection The Commissioner of CBP should direct relevant officials to work with NMFS to ensure that NMFS has timely access to information it needs to combat imports of seafood caught through IUU fishing. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

School Meal Programs: USDA Could Enhance Implementation of the Buy American Provision
GAO-23-105884
Apr 13, 2023
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Agriculture The Secretary of Agriculture should ensure that the Administrator of FNS develops a standard form that school food authorities can use to document their reasons for using exceptions from the Buy American provision, and disseminates that form through state agencies. (Recommendation 1)
Open
FNS concurred with this recommendation and stated that it will develop a standard template that school food authorities can use to document information related to the Buy American provision when utilizing exceptions. Further, FNS noted that in developing the template, it will consider topical comments on the Buy American provision included in the proposed rule, Child Nutrition Programs: Revisions to Meal Patterns Consistent with the 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, published February 7, 2023. We will monitor the progress of these efforts.
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