Mindy Brashears of Texas Tech University was poised to be confirmed on December 17 by the US Senate to an unprecedented second term as USDA Undersecretary for Food Safety. President Trump nominated her on June 2 for the same position she held during his first term in the White House.
Her confirmation comes as part of a group of 97 Trump executive and judicial nominees ready to be approved by a single vote in the Senate. Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., adjusted Senate rules to get more Trump appointments confirmed after Senate Democrats stopped moving nominees at historic speeds.
Thune describes the group’s confirmation, which passed by 53 votes to 47, as a “tactical nuclear” response to the slowdown. The final vote is supposed to come today.
The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee moderated Brashear’s nomination. She held a confirmation hearing on October 29, and informed the full Senate favorably of her appointment on November 3.
Brashears fills a 333-day vacancy in the nation’s top food safety position that has been open since Dr. Jose Emilio Esteban left the position at the end of the Biden administration.
The last time Brashears was confirmed by the Senate as USDA undersecretary for food safety in 2020, the position had been vacant for more than six years. This was due to a combination of events — President Obama chose not to name a successor to Dr. Elizabeth Hagen when she left government, and it took President Trump more than a year to nominate Brashears during his first term.
Brashears is once again leaving Texas Tech University as a professor of food safety and public health and director of the TTU International Center of Food Industry Excellence. Brashears was an expert witness in the BPI v. ABC News trial in June 2017.
As one of the nation’s top beef experts, Brashears told the judges in Elk Point, S.D., that BPI’s product was “definitely meat and definitely beef” and not “pink snot” as ABC News repeatedly portrayed it. Shortly after her testimony, Disney-owned ABC News agreed to settle with Dakota Dunes-based BPI. Financial experts who track Disney said it paid at least $177 million to resolve the product defamation lawsuit.
Brashears, a former president of the National Alliance for Food Safety and Food Security, will once again chair the US Codex Steering Committee, which is organizing the US delegation to the conference. Codex Alimentarius Commission. The Codex Alimentarius, or “Food Code”, is a set of international standards, guidelines and codes of practice adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission. The commission, also known as the CAC, was created to protect consumer health and promote fair practices in the food trade. Its first meeting was held in 1963.
Her responsibilities also include oversight of USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, including policies and programs. The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) regulates meat, poultry, some egg and catfish products in the country.
The Undersecretary for Food Safety was created Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994which was signed into law in October 1994.
In addition to Brashears, Esteban, and Hagen, others who have held positions in food safety are: Dr. richard a. Raymond (July 2005 to January 2009); Elsa A. Morano (October 2001 to December 2004); and Katherine Wuticki (July 1997 to January 2001).
The law requires that the President appoint an Under Secretary for Food Safety who must be selected from among individuals with specialized training or significant experience in food safety or public health programs.