The Under Secretary for Food Safety is a subcabinet position within the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, ...

responsible for oversight of the policies and programs of the

Food Safety and Inspection Service The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is the public health regulatory agency responsible for ensuring that United States' commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg pro ...

. The Under Secretary chairs the U.S. Codex Steering Committee, which provides guidance to U.S. delegations to the

Codex Alimentarius Commission The Codex Alimentarius () is a collection of internationally recognized standards, codes of practice, guidelines, and other recommendations published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations relating to food, food production ...

. The Food Safety and Inspection Service is responsible for ensuring the nation's supply of

meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...

poultry Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for their eggs, their meat or their feathers. These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae (fowl), especially the order Galliformes (which includes chickens, quails, a ...

, and processed

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

products are safe and correctly labeled and packaged. The Under Secretary of Food Safety is appointed by the President and confirmed by the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

. The Under Secretary is selected from among individuals with specialized training or significant experience in food safety or public health programs. The position was created by the

Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 The Federal Crop Insurance Reform and Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994, , was introduced on April 14, 1994 by Eligio de la Garza ( D- TX) and was signed into law on October 13, 1994 by President William J. Clinton. It consiste ...

, signed into law in October 1994. Dr.

Mindy Brashears Mindy Brashears is the former Under Secretary for Food Safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She was nominated by President Donald J. Trump and confirmed by a Senate vote on March 23, 2020 and concluded her service on January 20, 2021. ...

is the current Undersecretary of Food Safety. She previously served as Deputy Undersecretary from January, 2019 until her confirmation on March 23, 2020, at which point she became the 5th Senate-Confirmed Undersecretary of Food Safety. Previous Under Secretaries include Dr. Elisabeth Hagen (August 2010- December 2013),

Richard Allen Raymond Richard Allen Raymond was Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food Safety The Under Secretary for Food Safety is a subcabinet position within the United States Department of Agriculture responsible for oversight of the policies and programs of the ...

(July 2005–January 2009), Elsa A. Murano (October 2001–December 2004) and Catherine Woteki (July 1997–January 2001). From December 1, 2004 until July 15, 2005, Merle D. Pierson was Acting Under Secretary. The then-incumbent Food Safety and Inspection Service Administrator, Mike Taylor, became the acting Under Secretary from October 1994 to November 1996.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Under Secretary Of Agriculture For Food Safety Food safety in the United States

See also

References