USDA-FSIS Under Secretary for Food Safety Nominee Reveals Priorities in Senate Hearing
During a Senate confirmation hearing, Mindy Brashears, Ph.D., the presidential nominee for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Under Secretary for Food Safety, provided insight into what her priorities will be if she is confirmed for the position—with Salmonella topping her list, followed by Listeria.
As Under Secretary for Food Safety, Dr. Brashears would oversee USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS). If confirmed, this would be her second term in this role, having previously served as USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety from 2020–2021 during the first Trump Administration. Prior to and since her time at USDA under the first Trump Administration, Dr. Brashears, a food research scientist and microbiologist, has been a Professor and the Director of the International Center for Food Industry Excellence at Texas Tech University.
During the October 29 hearing in front of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, Dr. Brashears shared that she would prioritize Salmonella control, after the proposed framework to address Salmonella in poultry—which was developed after years of consideration and scientific and stakeholder consultations—was scrapped in April 2025 by the second Trump Administration.
Dr. Brashears helped roll out the USDA-FSIS Roadmap to Reducing Salmonella: Driving Change Through Science-Based Policy, which was published in 2020 during her first term as Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety. During the October 29 Senate hearing, she advocated for a science-based, data-driven approach to Salmonella control, just as she did in the 2020 roadmap.
In the Senate hearing, Dr. Brashears remarked that USDA-FSIS’ approach to Salmonella must leverage modern technologies to target the most highly pathogenic strains and focus on eradicating them from the food supply.
Dr. Brashears also said that Escherichia coli and Listeria monocytogenes would not be neglected at USDA-FSIS under her leadership, noting that L. monocytogenes control will continue to be an area of priority for the agency. Listeria has come under greater scrutiny by USDA-FSIS since the high-profile Boar’s Head listeriosis outbreak of 2024, which prompted the agency to update its Listeria Rule.
As a career food research scientist and microbiologist, Dr. Brashear’s past work outside of USDA-FSIS has mainly centered on mitigation strategies in pre-harvest production and post-harvest processing environments to reduce foodborne pathogens in meat and poultry.
Update, November 5, 2025: The Senate Agriculture Committee voted to advance the nomination of Dr. Brashears.
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