WASHINGTON, March 9, 2016 – Pew Charitable Trusts released a scathing report Tuesday on a USDA system designed to identify environmental contaminants, veterinary drugs, and pesticides in livestock and poultry that produce food for human consumption.
The report argued that the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the agency charged with running USDA’s National Residue Program and ensuring domestic and imported meat and poultry products are free of biological and chemical contaminants, has been neglecting to test these animal products for some contaminants that actually pose the greatest risk to humans.
“Some compounds that experts agree pose a significant public health hazard, such as dioxins and certain heavy metals, are not tested for routinely, while others posing little risk are regularly included in sampling plans,” the report said.
What’s more, the analysis argued, “in many cases, the program offers no justification for decisions to exclude drugs such as dexamethasone and dipyrone, which scored higher in the NRP’s published risk assessment than several monitored compounds.”
The report also noted that decisions “to include some compounds, such as avermectins, are based at least in part on studies that are outdated or were not peer-reviewed,” it said.
Pew’s analysis argued there were “major deficiencies” in how the program documents and reports data, and recommended that FSIS make data reporting and decision-making processes more transparent. The report also recommended the following:
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