Food Safety Czar Named

The Obama administration last week nominated Dr. Elisabeth Hagen, an physician specializing in infectious diseases, to oversee the USDA’s Food Safety & Inspection Service (FSIS) - one of the most important food safety positions in the federal government. Dr. Hagen is a relative newcomer to food safety, as she joined the USDA in 2006, was quickly promoted through the ranks of FSIS, and became its chief medical officer last year. Her position is responsible for overseeing safe meat, poultry and eggs, which make up 20 percent of the food supply. Not much is known about Dr. Hagen's policy positions at this point, but the meat industry is applauding her selection.

Dr. Hagen was not the Obama administration's first choice to lead FSIS. The administration also courted Caroline Smith Dewaal, director of food safety at Center for Science in the Public Interest, a GAP coalition partner. Smith DeWaal is a food safety expert with 20 years worth of experience working on policy and food safety issues. DeWaal’s nomination was halted after it was discovered that she is a registered lobbyist, which goes against the administration's policy against hiring lobbyists.

GAP’s not taking a side on Hagen with this post, in any way. But GAP, last week as part of a coalition of 13 groups, sent a letter to President Obama asking for a change in the year-old executive order that bans hiring lobbyists. The order lumps together lobbyists for the private sector with those who represent charities and public interest causes – people who don't have any type of financial interest in government policies. This means, that "countless charities that have no actual or perceived financial conflicts of interest are treated as 'collateral damage,' and discouraged from much-needed policy involvement." The coalition believes the order was well-meaning, but ultimately flawed, as it prevents experts such as Smith DeWall, who would have been a fantastic choice, from joining the government and using their expertise to help protect the public.

Comments

[Ian]

Ironically, it turned out that CSPI, the actual registrant, had been improperly listing Food Safety Director Caroline DeWaal as a CSPI lobbyist for several years, and in the Fall of 2009 amended/corrected its filings to remove the erroneous listing during that time period.