Fewer than half of seafood businesses are following Food and Drug Administration safety standards to ensure that consumers don’t get bad fish, says a scathing report by congressional investigators.
The FDA has made progress in improving safety since instituting strict regulations in 1997, but large gaps remain, according to the report, released Tuesday by the General Accounting Office, Congress’ investigative arm.
More than half of FDA inspections of domestic seafood processors found serious violations, yet the government didn’t move quickly to make the companies shape up, investigators found.
“The potential health risks associated with these violations are significant,” the GAO said.
As for imported seafood, the report said that, even when the FDA finds serious problems at foreign seafood plants, it doesn’t automatically stop and examine those companies’ products once they arrive at U.S. ports.
