Elisabeth Hagen, a physician, has been nominated as Undersecretary of Agriculture for Food Safety by President Obama
Hagen, 40, is a physician with four years’ experience in food safety. A spokesman at the USDA said Hagen is declining interview requests as she awaits confirmation by the Senate. Her nomination does not appear to face strong opposition.
The meat industry applauded the selection. “Hagen brings the background, skills and vision to lead USDA’s efforts to make sure that Americans have access to a safe and healthy food supply,” said Patrick J. Boyle, president of the American Meat Institute.
It is difficult to assess Hagen’s positions on policy or the politics of food safety; she hasn’t published any papers, articles or books on the topic. Most of her career has been spent teaching and practicing medicine as an infectious disease specialist. She left medicine in 2006 and went to the USDA, where she was quickly promoted through the ranks of the department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service to become the chief medical officer last year.
If confirmed as undersecretary of agriculture for food safety, Hagen will face complex challenges. She would oversee the USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service, which is responsible for safe meat, poultry and eggs, which make up 20 percent of the food supply. It employs 7,300 inspectors who perform daily and continuous checks inside 6,200 food processing facilities.
Source: The Washington Post