Industry News - PM

OIG criticizes FSIS implementation of PHIS


By Tom Johnston on 8/28/2015

USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service didn’t establish sufficient internal controls to effectively implement the domestic Public Health Information System.

So said the agency’s Office of the Inspector General in an audit published today that highlights numerous problems, from cost overruns and inaccurate establishment profiles to sketchy Internet connections and faulty data-inputting functionality.

OIG’s audit involved visits to 22 plants in 2012 and 2013 to evaluate FSIS’s implementation and oversight of the program. At the time, the agency was using PHIS 2.1 (now 4.1).

Based on those visits, OIG recommended that FSIS provide a written assessment of the current status of PHIS’ implementation and develop and implement controls that require ongoing monitoring.

OIG further recommended that FSIS develop and implement a plan to: review and correct establishment profile data; ensure inspectors are assigned a manageable number of tasks; that the most important tasks are routinely performed; and effectively implement the actions agreed to from our prior audit work.

To view the entire audit, click here. 


 
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