International Food Assistance: Better Nutrition and Quality Control Can Further Improve U.S. Food Aid
GAO-11-491
Published: May 12, 2011. Publicly Released: May 12, 2011.
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Highlights
For more than 50 years, the United States--which accounts for about half of global food aid supplies--has played an important role in alleviating malnutrition and hunger, especially during emergencies. In fiscal year 2010, the United States spent about $1.5 billion on emergency food aid that reached about 46.5 million beneficiaries. To preserve the nutritional value of food aid, quality controls are in place throughout the supply chain. GAO was asked to assess U.S. efforts to (1) meet the nutritional needs of intended recipients and (2) maintain the quality of commodities throughout the food aid supply chain. GAO analyzed program data, interviewed agency officials and their implementing partners, and conducted fieldwork in the United States and four countries in Africa..
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. Agency for International Development | To enhance U.S. food aid programs' efforts to meet the nutritional needs of intended recipients, and for U.S. food aid that provides the sole source of diet for recipients of emergency programs that extend beyond a year, the Administrator of USAID and the Secretary of Agriculture should work together to provide clear guidance to implementing partners on how to address nutritional deficiencies that may emerge. | USAID and USDA generally agreed with this recommendation. In commenting on the report, both agencies provided examples of ongoing efforts to address this recommendation. USAID, for example, was in the process of field-testing new fortified blended foods, such as corn-soy-blend-plus (CSB+), and establishing guidance for implementing partners on how to address nutritional deficiencies with these new products. By April 2015, USAID updated its Food for Peace website with guidance for implementing partners about when and how to use CSB+ during emergencies. Although emergency programs are largely under the purview of USAID, USDA has been supporting USAID's efforts through changes in commodity... procurement requirements. For example, through an Interagency Working Group, USDA worked with USAID to develop guidance for applicants seeking funding for nutritional commodities. This guidance, updated for CSB+ in September 2014, now requires a detailed explanation of how the requested commodity and ration size will help address nutritional and micronutrient deficiencies.
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| Department of Agriculture | To enhance U.S. food aid programs' efforts to meet the nutritional needs of intended recipients, and for new specialized food products designed to meet the nutritional needs of the most vulnerable groups, the Administrator of USAID and the Secretary of Agriculture should work together to evaluate the performance and cost-effectiveness of the products in achieving their nutritional goals in an appropriate program setting before they are included in the agencies' approved list of commodities. | USDA generally agreed with this recommendation. In commenting on our report, USDA said it would review these new products' relative cost-effectiveness and evaluate the results of field testing in order to determine if they should be included in future programs. Since then, USDA has been reviewing the performance and cost-effectiveness of new products in a field setting through the Micronutrient-Fortified Food Aid Products Pilot (MFFAPP). Under MFFAPP, USDA implemented programs aimed at developing nutritious and high quality micronutrient-fortified food aid products to meet the energy and nutrient needs of certain populations. The testing of these products was aimed at enhancing the U.S....
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| Department of Agriculture | To enhance U.S. food aid programs' efforts to meet the nutritional needs of intended recipients, and for new specialized food products designed to meet the nutritional needs of the most vulnerable groups, the Administrator of USAID and the Secretary of Agriculture should work together to provide clear guidance on whether and how best to use new specialized food products, including guidance to the agencies' implementing partners on targeting strategies to ensure that the products reach their intended recipients. | USAID and USDA generally agreement with this recommendation. In September 2014, USAID completed field work on a feasibility trial in Malawi, testing whether enhanced nutritional messaging and reduced packaging size were necessary to improve targeted use of new specialized food products?corn-soy blend plus (CSB+) and modified fortified vegetable oil. In May 2015, the contractor's preliminary report findings were presented to USAID and its partners, resulting in a discussion about enhanced programming and modified guidance. By June 16, 2015, USAID updated its programming guidance on its commodity fact sheets for CSB+ and fortified vegetable oil. Though these specialized food aid products...
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| U.S. Agency for International Development | To enhance U.S. food aid programs' efforts to meet the nutritional needs of intended recipients, and for new specialized food products designed to meet the nutritional needs of the most vulnerable groups, the Administrator of USAID and the Secretary of Agriculture should work together to provide clear guidance on whether and how best to use new specialized food products, including guidance to the agencies' implementing partners on targeting strategies to ensure that the products reach their intended recipients. | In September 2014, USAID completed field work on a feasibility trial in Malawi, testing whether enhanced nutritional messaging and reduced packaging size were necessary to improve targeted use of new specialized food products -- corn-soy blend plus (CSB+) and modified fortified vegetable oil. In May 2015, the contractor's preliminary report findings were presented to USAID and its partners, resulting in a discussion about enhanced programming and modified guidance. By June 16, 2015, USAID updated its programming guidance on its commodity fact sheets for CSB+ and fortified vegetable oil. Though these specialized food aid products are provided largely through emergency food aid programs...
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| U.S. Agency for International Development | To improve U.S. food aid programs' efforts to maintain the quality of commodities throughout the food aid supply chain, the Administrator of USAID and the Secretary of Agriculture should work together to strengthen agencies' monitoring of commodity quality by identifying and tracking key quality indicators to ensure that agencies and implementing partners are aware of the full extent of quality problems, including emerging concerns, throughout the supply chain. | USAID agreed with our recommendation. According to USAID, it has been actively engaged with suppliers and with the U.S. Department of Agriculture counterparts to improve commodity food safety and quality systems. In January 2014, USAID began asking suppliers to transition into a more comprehensive food safety and quality approach , which would: (a) shift the responsibility of food safety and quality monitoring to the suppliers themselves, thus eliminating the need for on-site USDA permanent inspections; and (b) require suppliers to implement a better defined environmental and pathogen monitoring program, in compliance with the Food and Drug Administration's Food Safety Modernization Act....
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| Department of Agriculture | To improve U.S. food aid programs' efforts to maintain the quality of commodities throughout the food aid supply chain, the Administrator of USAID and the Secretary of Agriculture should work together to strengthen agencies' monitoring of commodity quality by identifying and tracking key quality indicators to ensure that agencies and implementing partners are aware of the full extent of quality problems, including emerging concerns, throughout the supply chain. | When commenting on our report, USDA agreed with our recommendation and noted that it would work with relevant agencies to minimize instances of quality problems and strive for greater accountability in food aid contracts. USDA has taken several steps to help maintain commodity quality. First, in April 2012, USDA implemented the U.S. Warehouse Act's Export Food Aid Commodities Licensing Agreement that required inspection and examination procedures of food aid quality at all domestic and foreign port facilities. Although the licensing agreement addressed poor warehouse conditions and inadequate fumigation, it did not address lack of compliance with product specifications. In February 2013,...
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| U.S. Agency for International Development | To improve U.S. food aid programs' efforts to maintain the quality of commodities throughout the food aid supply chain, the Administrator of USAID and the Secretary of Agriculture should work together to evaluate packaging specifications to ensure food packaging is sufficiently durable for conditions encountered throughout the supply chain. |
USAID's implementing partners now have options to select more durable packaging for vegetable oil. In addition, in order to better withstand rigorous handling and transportation, in January 2013, USAID increased from 90 to 100 percent its use of high performance multi-layered 25 kilogram bags.
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| Department of Agriculture | To improve U.S. food aid programs' efforts to maintain the quality of commodities throughout the food aid supply chain, the Administrator of USAID and the Secretary of Agriculture should work together to evaluate packaging specifications to ensure food packaging is sufficiently durable for conditions encountered throughout the supply chain. | As of February 2012, USDA and USAID had begun working with FACG's Packaging Working Group to examine potential weaknesses and explore improvements for current standards of existing food aid packaging specifications. As a direct result of this collaboration, the containers used to ship vegetable oil were changed to improve the seal and durability of cans. Additional alterations in packaging include changes to markings describing how the contract and lot numbers were applied. For example, in response to revised USAID program requirements concerning overseas inventory issues, USDA also increased the utilization of "best if used by dates" on all packaging. In January 2013, the FACG...
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| Department of Agriculture | To enhance U.S. food aid programs' efforts to meet the nutritional needs of intended recipients, and for U.S. food aid that provides the sole source of diet for recipients of emergency programs that extend beyond a year, the Administrator of USAID and the Secretary of Agriculture should work together to provide clear guidance to implementing partners on how to address nutritional deficiencies that may emerge. | USAID and USDA generally agreed with this recommendation. In commenting on the report, both agencies provided examples of ongoing efforts to address this recommendation. USAID, for example, was in the process of field-testing new fortified blended foods, such as corn-soy-blend-plus (CSB+), and establishing guidance for implementing partners on how to address nutritional deficiencies with these new products. By April 2015, USAID updated its Food for Peace website with guidance for implementing partners about when and how to use CSB+ during emergencies. Although emergency programs are largely under the purview of USAID, USDA has been supporting USAID's efforts through changes in commodity...
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| U.S. Agency for International Development | To enhance U.S. food aid programs' efforts to meet the nutritional needs of intended recipients, and for new specialized food products designed to meet the nutritional needs of the most vulnerable groups, the Administrator of USAID and the Secretary of Agriculture should work together to evaluate the performance and cost-effectiveness of the products in achieving their nutritional goals in an appropriate program setting before they are included in the agencies' approved list of commodities. | USAID generally agreed with this recommendation. In commenting on our report, USAID said it would review these new products' relative cost-effectiveness and evaluate the results of field testing in order to determine if they should be included in future programs. In March 2013, USAID, in coordination with its partners, developed two field trials to examine the cost effectiveness of new food aid products: (1) for preventing malnutrition in Burkina Faso, and (2) for treating malnutrition in Sierra Leone. Since then, USAID obtained approval to carry out research with human subjects, issued a request for proposal for the procurement of the foods, procured and shipped them, and trained local...
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Developing countriesEmergency reliefFederal aid programsFederal aid to foreign countriesFood relief programsFood supplyForeign assistanceInternational food programsInternational organizationsMalnutritionProcurement practicesQuality controlSupply chain managementForeign countriesNutrition