Margaret Hamburg, head of the FDA for six years, says she will step down as commissioner at the end of March. She announced the decision in a letter to employees, in which she praised the FDA’s accomplishments, among them “creating a modernized food safety system that will reduce foodborne illness.” FDA is partway through implemention of the 2010 Food Safety Modernization Act and a phase-out of medically important antibiotics as growth promotants in food animals.
“In the foods area, we have taken critical actions that will improve the safety of the food Americans consume for years to come,” wrote Hamburg. “These include science-based standards developed to create a food safety system focused on preventing foodborne illness before it occurs, rather than responding after the fact. We have taken several significant steps to help Americans make more informed and healthful food choices. These include working to reduce trans fats in processed foods; more clearly defining when baked goods, pastas and other foods can be labeled ‘gluten free’; updating the iconic Nutrition Facts label; and, most recently, finalizing the rules to make calorie information available on chain restaurant menus and vending machines.”
The FDA’s chief scientist, Stephen Ostroff, will become acting commissioner upon Hamburg’s departure.
Politico quoted Michael Jacobson, head of the consumer group Center for Science in the Public Interest, as saying, “She’s a consummate public health advocate, and her agency has moved forward on some very important food initiatives. We’ll miss her at FDA, and the discontinuity will only slow things down.”
Text of Hamburg’s letter to FDA employees is available here.