Agriculture inspector general says staff overextended

Agriculture Department Inspector General Roger Viadero told the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Thursday that, "with the nation's food supply highly susceptible to tampering, diseases or infestation with unwanted plant pests, the Office of the Inspector General's resources -especially our investigative resources-continue to be drastically overextended in these highly critical areas."

Viadero said the OIG currently has 34 open investigations on meat products that could have sickened or killed consumers and 26 current investigations into smuggling of agricultural products. Viadero also noted that nine Agricultural Marketing Service fruit and vegetable graders at the Hunts Point Terminal Market in New York City recently pleaded guilty to accepting bribes for lowering the grades on produce so wholesalers could negotiate lower prices with growers. Viadero noted the case was so severe that the accused employees are being charged with racketeering.

In a bid for an increase in the OIG budget, Viadero noted the staff has been reduced from 875 employees in 1993 to 665 today-a 24 percent cut. "As our funding shortages have grown more severe, we have been forced to change our standards for determining criminal activities we investigate," adding that the agency leaves "thousands of prosecutable criminal cases in the files" because it has resources only to pursue the larger violations.

In its investigations of the U.S. Forest Service, Viadero said, "It's like having one police officer and one auditor to handle all crime and corruption in New York City." House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, said Congress should consider allowing the OIG to keep some of the money it recovers. Viadero said OIG investigations have resulted in $68 million in fines, restitutions, other recoveries and penalties this year.