Dr. Elisabeth Hagen left the USDA in December of 2013, leaving the position of the USDA’s Undersecretary for Food Safety vacant and President Obama chose not to fill it for the remainder of his term.
Trump got Ted McKinney in as the USDA’s Undersecretary for Agriculture Trade and Foreign
Continue Reading One heck of a way to run a government
The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry late Wednesday voted to favorably report the nomination of Mindy Brashears to be Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food Safety.
Her nomination may now be considered by the full U.S. Senate for confirmation. That floor vote is expected to occur before the
Continue Reading Senate likely to vote soon on Brashears as USDA’s top food safety official
For those marking time, waiting for a new USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety, today is something of an anniversary. It was four years ago today that Dr. Elisabeth Hagen stepped down from the post.
The top food safety job in the federal government remains vacant.
Neither President Barack Obama
Continue Reading Letter from The Editor: The shameful vacancy at USDA
UPDATED: So far, so good. Secretary Perdue has named, on a temporary basis, two USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) career employees to the top jobs. Paul Kiecker is acting FSIS administrator and Carmen Rottenberg is acting deputy undersecretary for food safety.
A couple days ago we ran Al
Continue Reading Letter From The Editor: Fill USDA’s top food safety posts now
James Marsden, top food safety official for Chipotle Mexican Grill, and Dr. Elisabeth Hagen, who joined the Denver-based burrito chain’s Food Safety Advisory Board in January, met on June 1 with top officials at USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.
Hagen was USDA under secretary for food safety from 2010
Continue Reading Chipotle’s food safety officials recently visited Washington D.C.
One of the nation’s past top food safety officials might be named Secretary of Agriculture by President-elect Donald J. Trump.
Cuban-born Texan Professor Elsa Murano, who served as U.S. Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food Safety in the administration of President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2004, is a
Continue Reading Food safety expertise could trump ho-hum ag appointment
Here are the Top Ten food safety stories for 2015 as compiled by Food Safety News. 
No. 1—The massacre on Dec. 2, 2015 of 14 people in San Bernardino County, CA mostly involved those responsible for local food safety and related county health inspections and the homicides were
Continue Reading The Year’s Top Ten Food Safety Stories
It has been almost two years since Dr. Elisabeth Hagen stepped down as our most recent USDA under secretary for food safety. President Obama has not appointed, nor has the Senate confirmed, anyone to fill that vacancy since Hagen departed. It’s now also been 21 years since, on Oct. 19,
Continue Reading Letter From the Editor: A 10-Year Term is the Vacancy Solution
We’ve let the news spoil several holidays and many a Friday night. Christmas 2009 comes to mind, probably because it was the first. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was chasing down a cluster of E. coli O157:H7 cases just hours before the holiday. We wanted the
Continue Reading Letter From the Editor: Mechanically Tenderized Steaks
The commissioner’s job at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is coming open at the end of March. FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, the 59-year-old physician who graduated from Harvard Medical School, announced Thursday that she would be leaving her post next month after serving for almost six years. Dr.
Continue Reading FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg Leaving the Agency Next Month
