The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday announced that Michael Taylor, a food-safety expert and research professor at George Washington University’s School of Public Health and Health Services, is filling the role of senior advisor to the commissioner, Dr. Margaret Hamburg.
Taylor first worked for the FDA in 1976 as a litigating attorney and then served as deputy commissioner for policy. He returns now after a stint at the U.S. Department of Agriculture as administrator of the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and acting undersecretary for food safety. Recently he also served as chair of the steering committee of the Food Safety Research Consortium, a collaboration among six universities and a nonprofit think tank to improve food-safety decision making and priority setting.
In his new role, Taylor will assess current food program challenges and opportunities, identify capacity needs and regulatory priorities, develop plans for allocating fiscal 2010 resources, develop the FDA’s budget request for fiscal 2011 and plan implementation of new food-safety legislation.
On Wednesday, the National Fisheries Institute in McLean, Va., released a statement applauding Taylor’s appointment.
“In his early tenure at the FDA, Taylor led the development of the existing Seafood Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point regulation that has been so successful in highlighting the effectiveness of a risk-based approach to good safety,” said NFI President John Connelly. “We welcome the opportunity to once again work with Mr. Taylor as he continues to build on the FDA’s legacy of ensuring safe and healthy seafood is available to Americans.”
