Department of Agriculture, Under Secretary for Food Safety
Department/Agency: Department of Agriculture
Position:
Under Secretary for Food Safety
Executive Schedule: Executive Level III - Presidential Appointment with Senate Confirmation
Major Responsibilities:
- Oversee policies and programs of the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS)
- Ensure that the commercial supply of meat, poultry and processed egg products moving in interstate commerce or exported to other countries is safe and wholesome
- Monitors packing and labeling of meat and poultry products
Key Competencies and Preferred Qualifications:
- Background in public health and food safety
- Connections to science and health community
- Familiarity with Capitol Hill
Insight:
The Undersecretary for Food Safety oversees the Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). With a requested fiscal 2009 budget of $952 million and more than 9,000 employees, the FSIS inspects food processing plants and import/export sites nationwide. The FSIS is responsible for ensuring the safety of tens of billions of pounds of meats, poultry and liquid egg products.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) monitors the safety of all other foodstuffs, and the line between the two agencies’ jurisdictions is often unclear. Critics of the dual-agency system have long charged that it allows dangerous foods to slip through the cracks and results in inconsistent responses to food safety situations. However, both agencies have been resistant to proposals to merge their food safety operations.
"We do not believe a single food safety agency would give us the efficiencies you can have from having two agencies responsible for 99 percent of the food that we eat in this country, both domestic and imported," Richard Raymond, then-under secretary for food safety, said in November 2007 in defending the bifurcated regulation of food.
Both the FDA and USDA lack the authority to recall contaminated foods — producers must do so voluntarily. But both can put heavy heat on companies to get bad products off the market. In 2007, “more than 30 million pounds of ground beef — enough to make 120 million quarter-pound burgers — has been pulled off the market in 18 recalls because of possible E. coli contamination,” The Washington Post reported. “That included the second-largest recall in U.S. history, which put Topps Meat Co. out of business.”
Raymond called the growing E. coli scare a “wake-up call.” It has certainly awoken calls for reform in the nation’s food safety procedures, including more uniform rules for inspection across agencies, enhanced enforcement power and better allocation of resources. The next under secretary will have to take a leading role in developing a more effective system of protecting the public from food-borne sicknesses.
The under secretary’s public health mission is not confined to domestic products and consumers. He or she will also sit on the Codex Alimentarius Commission, a United Nations subsidiary with the purpose of protecting the health of international consumers and ensuring fair practices in the food trade. The Commission coordinates food standards with international governmental and nongovernmental organizations.
A 2003 outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly called mad cow disease, in U.S. cattle prompted South Korea to ban all American beef. Newly elected Korean President Lee Myung Bak reopened the market to U.S. beef in April 2008 in an effort to pave the way for ratification of a free trade agreement with the U.S. The plan backfired when Korean consumers, still wary of U.S. beef, protested in the Korean capital, stalling the free-trade accord. (See an account in Business Week.)
The next under secretary for food safety will have to stay alert to emerging health threats and develop new testing protocols to prevent contaminated products from entering the global food market and jeopardizing foreign trade relationships. He or she also will be responsible for making progress on the agency’s six major goals under the USDA strategic plan, including ramping up outreach and communications efforts.
Key Relationships – Within the Department or Agency:
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Agricultural Marketing Service
Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service
Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services
Inspectors
Key Relationships – Within the Government:
Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration
Environmental Protection Agency
Centers for Disease Control
Key Relationships – Outside the Government:
Codex Alimentarius
World Health Organization, United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, World Trade Organization
Partnership for Food Safety Education
Consumer groups
Meat and poultry food producers and processors
Nomination Referred to:
Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry
Current Position Profile:
1. Elisabeth Hagen (Announced Jan 25, 2010). Currently, USDA chief medical officer, where she serves as an advisor to USDA on human health issues. Previously, Hagen worked on public health with USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service. Hagen was a practicing physician before coming to the USDA. She is a graduate of Harvard Medical School and a board certified expert in infectious disease.
Recent Position Profiles:
2. Elizabeth Johnson (Acting 2008-2010). Former chief assistant to USDA deputy secretary and deputy chief of staff. Registered dietitian. Nutritionist for the Food and Drug Administration’s food labeling division and research dietitian at the USDA Agricultural Research Service. 3. Richard Raymond, M.D. (2005-2008) Former Nebraska chief medical officer and president of the Nebraska Medical Association. Former president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. Rural family practitioner. First medical doctor to run the USDA’s food safety programs.
4. Elsa Murano, Ph.D. (2001-2004). Former professor of agriculture at Texas A&M and Iowa State University. Former director of the Institute for Food Science and Engineering. Later president of Texas A&M University.
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