Although it is responsible for monitoring the packaged food consumption in order to prevent the diseases they can transmit, the National Food Institute (INAL, for its acronym in Spanish) has low effectiveness to give way to the claims: "60% of the samples taken in the products were not reported to be representative "because they belong to another batch or product.

It is promptly the Food Surveillance Department which "receives and manages complaints about problems associated with food." But the General Audit Office (AGN, for its acronym in Spanish) noted that "there is no national approach to its management."

From January 2009 to June 2011 a total of 1420 complaints, of which 1335 were for alleged health risks and 85 possible diseases transmitted by goods were received. It is noteworthy that "the sample, 72% of cases the INAL began the investigative process immediately," that is, within 15 days, although "in 79% of the surveyed situations it could not communicate the result to the complainant."

INAL computer systems do not help because "there is no integrated database that allows keeping track of the proceedings initiated and determine the degree of progress."

INAL is under the aegis of the National Administration of Drugs, Food and Medical Food Technology (ANMAT) and its main function is to control the national 'safety' to prevent food-borne diseases.

However, INAL delegated monitoring, processing, fractionation, storage and marketing of packaged products, i.e. those who are not natural but underwent modification, in provinces or municipalities although it was between its obligations under the Argentine Food Code. To this it is added that "in an audit conducted and approved in 2004 by the AGN they had notified the lack of adequate joint control tasks with the judicial authorities."

Within the scope of the ANMAT, it was signed in 2009, the fourth Letter of Commitment with the Citizen that drew several objectives which include "strengthening the systems for recording, monitoring, control and surveillance." They were drawn for each indicator in order to record the progress of each goal. When the audit team requested documentation related to them "it received only information about the management of each department that provides no evidence for the existence of a measurement of these indicators." This situation reveals that in September 2012 the ANMAT confirmed the same "the Commitment Letter is not implemented."

Federalism

INAL should have ten branches throughout the country, specifically in Salta, Tucumán, Formosa, Rosario, Santa Fe, Bahia Blanca, Mendoza, Paso de los Libres, Posadas and Córdoba. However, "the last three were the only ones working, and met a secondary role."

The auditors visited the delegations and found that "limited tasks are performed and there is no uniformity among them," for example, they do not work with files or archives. It was also noted that "there are no guidelines from the Central INAL so reports received six months of the venues have different formats that are not conducive to optimizing the management."