José Emilio Esteban, D.V.M. was sworn in as the U.S. Under Secretary for Food Safety on January 4, 2023. In this role, he leads the Office of Food Safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), overseeing the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), which has regulatory oversight for ensuring that meat, poultry, and egg products are safe, wholesome, and properly labeled.

In August 2018, Dr. Esteban was appointed FSIS chief scientist. In this capacity, he served as the primary scientific advisor on matters of public health and food safety that affect the mission of the agency, with primary responsibility for scientific initiatives within the FSIS Office of Public Health Science (OPHS). In 2002, Dr. Esteban joined OPHS as the Director of the Western Laboratory. In this role, he directed the implementation of the sampling program and was responsible for the facility, equipment, and personnel infrastructure. In 2008, he was appointed as the FSIS Science Advisor for laboratory services and then as Executive Associate for Laboratory Services, where he harmonized the operation of all three FSIS laboratories, maintained operations to meet with the ISO 17025 standard, and coordinated emergency response.

Prior to joining FSIS, Dr. Esteban worked in several positions at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). From 1994–2002, he was as an epidemic intelligence service officer, a staff epidemiologist in the National Center for Environmental Health, and an assistant director for the CDC Food Safety Office. He received his doctorate in veterinary medicine (D.V.M.) from Mexico's Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, an M.B.A. degree from the Panamerican Institute, as well as a Master of Preventive Veterinary Medicine and a Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the University of California at Davis.

Sandra Eskin, J.D. was appointed U.S. Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety on March 24, 2021. In this role, she leads the Office of Food Safety at USDA, overseeing FSIS.

Prior to joining USDA, Mrs. Eskin was the Project Director for Food Safety at The Pew Charitable Trusts in Washington, D.C., a position she held since November 2009. She also served from 2008–2009 as the Deputy Director of the Produce Safety Project, a Pew-funded initiative at Georgetown University. 

Before that time, Mrs. Eskin spent nearly 20 years as a public policy consultant to numerous consumer advocacy and public interest organizations, providing strategic and policy advice on a broad range of consumer protection issues, particularly food and drug safety, labeling, and advertising. She has served as a member of multiple federal advisory committees related to consumer information on prescription drugs, meat and poultry safety, and foodborne illness surveillance. Mrs. Eskin received her J.D. from UC Hastings College of the Law, and her B.A. degree from Brown University.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak with Dr. Esteban and Mrs. Eskin [6:06] about:

• How FSIS took into consideration scientific advice from the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF) and public comments in its revisions to the Framework
• FSIS’s approach to encouraging a reduction in Salmonella load on incoming flocks at slaughter
• The feasibility of achieving the U.S. Healthy People 2030 target of a 25 percent reduction in salmonellosis illnesses within the next five years
• The reasoning behind targeting certain serotypes of concern and continually adjusting which serotypes are targeted as pathogens evolve
• Ways in which FSIS is assessing the efficacy of regulating Salmonella as an adulterant in breaded, stuffed, raw, not-ready-to-eat chicken products
• FSIS’s outreach and education efforts to help industry comply with the requirements of the Framework, once it is adopted
• Initiatives that FSIS launched in recognition of National Food Safety Education Month during September, and details about an ongoing consumer research study the agency is conducting to inform a redesign of the safe food handling instructions label.

Resources

USDA-FSIS Publishes Proposed Regulatory Framework for Salmonella in Raw Poultry

USDA-FSIS: Salmonella Officially an Adulterant in Breaded, Stuffed Raw Chicken Products at 1 CFU/g or Higher

Partnership for Food Safety Education Consumer Food Safety Educator Toolkit

Food Safety Matters Ep. 150. Sarah Gallo: CBA and FDA—Modernizing Recalls, Inspections, Labeling, and More (Featuring Dr. Esteban)

Food Safety Matters Ep. 134. Sandra Eskin: How USDA-FSIS is Tackling Salmonella in Poultry

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