Letter From the Editor: Transition gap hurts food safety

–– OPINION —

Dr, Jose Emilio Esteban left office 100 days ago.  He was for two years and one month USDA’s Under Secretary for Food Safety.  The office is currently vacant awaiting a new Presidential appointee and U.S. Senate confirmation.

How did that go last time?  It was 701 days into the last administration until the U.S. Senate confirmed Dr. Esteban’s Presidential appointment.  Until that happened, there was no USDA Under Secretary for Safety.

If history is any guide, the current vacancy will last hundreds more days. That’s partly why the Under Secretary for Food Safety office has stood vacant for about as long as it’s been filled.

Congress created the office 30 years ago as part of a significant reorganization of the USDA. This action sought to correct an imbalance at USDA — it was all mammoth sales, marketing, and an insurance agency with a big charity arm, but Congress feared that food safety was being left behind.

Congress created the Under Secretary for Food Safety to address that issue, which reports directly to the Secretary of Agriculture. As we’ve reported repeatedly, that office has stood vacant about half the time since it was created.

This is a dangerous time for food safety. From a protocol perspective, the Under Secretary has the highest position in food safety in the federal government. The Under Secretary represents the United States in international food safety forums.

But it’s no surprise that during the vacancy, this new administration is removing hallmark food safety regulations left over from the previous administration.  

USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is withdrawing the proposed rule for the Salmonella Framework for Raw Poultry Products.  This follows last month’s disclosure by FSIS’s sister agency that the FDA is kicking the Food Traceability Final Rule, which is required by Section 204(d) of the Food Safety Modernization Act, down the road by at least another 30 months. 

Connect the dots, and you will see that the raw poultry rule’s demise comes as Federal Election Commission (FEC) reports show that of the $239 million donated to fund the Trump-Vance inauguration, $5 million was the largest donation. It came from Greeley, CO-based Pilgrim’s Pride, the JBS SA poultry subsidiary.

“The decision to withdraw the Salmonella Poultry framework sends the clear message that the Make America Healthy Again initiative does not care about the thousands of people who get sick from preventable foodborne Salmonella infections linked to poultry,” said Sandra Eskin, USDA’s former Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety Eskin, now CEO of Stop Foodborne Illness (STOP), did most of the heavy lifting on the rule.  “The proposal was developed with robust stakeholder input, and the decision to withdraw it was made before FSIS even had an opportunity to review the extensive docket.”

FSIS’s  new line is the “proposed determination to allow the agency to assess further its approach for addressing Salmonella illnesses associated with poultry products.”

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins is the only USDA official confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Seven others are awaiting Senate confirmation, but the next USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety has not yet been nominated.

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