The Food and Drug Administration’s director of food safety is leaving the agency for an academic post, the FDA said Monday.
Stephen Sundlof, who has been with the FDA 16 years, will join the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, according to a statement from the FDA.
A veterinarian and research scientist by training, Dr. Sundlof became director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition in January 2008. That was partly because his background in toxicology was relevant to emerging food-safety issues, such as the increase in antimicrobial resistance in food-borne bacteria and “mad cow” disease, which was linked to the consumption of some European beef products.
The deputy director of regulatory affairs at the food-safety center, Michael Landa, will become its acting chief.
The food center has been beset with safety crises in recent years including melamine-contaminated milk products from China and several outbreaks of salmonella in produce. In early 2009, the FDA was criticized for reacting too slowly to salmonella found in U.S.-produced peanut butter, which was linked to several deaths and led to recalls of more than 30 million pounds of peanut butter and more than 100 products around the country.
In the wake of these problems, some consumer advocates and members of Congress have called for a separate food-safety agency that would combine the oversight authority of the FDA’s food section and the Department of Agriculture.
Last year, the FDA hired food-safety expert Michael Taylor, who had worked at the agency during the 1990s. In January, he was promoted to a newly created position, deputy commissioner for foods. Dr. Sundlof and Dr. Taylor weren’t immediately available for comment.