Summary

To guard against outbreaks of serious diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease and swine fever (hog cholera), Federal and State laws prohibit the feeding of uncooked food scraps to swine. In Florida, State law and related rules generally require that, among other things, producers who feed food scraps to swine (garbage feeders) obtain a permit from the Department, store uncooked food waste securely, meet specified sanitary standards, and cook the food waste at a specified temperature for a specified period of time prior to feeding it to swine.

During the audit period, there were, according to Department records, approximately 150 garbage feeder permit holders in Florida, and a reported 13,600 swine cared for at the garbage feeder facilities. Pursuant to Chapter 585, Florida Statutes, the Department is responsible for inspecting the operation of garbage feeders. Provisions of the Classical Swine Fever Response Plan for Florida, a plan developed jointly by the Department and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), suggest that each garbage feeder’s operations be inspected twice monthly.

Our audit disclosed that garbage feeder facility inspections were not always completed as frequently as specified by the Response Plan. We also found the Department had not taken steps necessary to identify unpermitted garbage feeder facilities.

The Commissioner of Agriculture's written response to the audit findings and recommendations in audit report No. 02-053 can be viewed as a part of the complete report filed on this Auditor General web site.