The Food Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 (Farm Bill) further fragmented the food safety system by directing USDA’s FSIS to issue catfish inspection regulations, according to a recent study from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) entitled, Responsibility for Inspecting Catfish Should Not Be Assigned to USDA. The Farm Bill split the responsibility for seafood safety between FSIS (for catfish inspection) and FDA for general seafood.
The Farm Bill directed FSIS to prepare a risk assessment to determine the risks associated with catfish, and FSIS identified Salmonella as the primary food safety hazard in catfish, based on its research. GAO found that FSIS used outdated and limited information in designing a catfish inspection program that seeks to mitigate Salmonella as the major risk potential in catfish contamination.