President Trump has again nominated Mindy Brashears to be USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety.
Brashears served as Undersecretary for Food Safety for the last 303 days of Trump’s first term, which turned out to be the most significant period for any Under Secretary for Food Safety in history, as those were the days of the pandemic. It was when the U.S. food industry experienced an “extreme demand shock” and fears that shortages could lead to panic. Brashears, responsible for food safety in the entire meat sector, worked to keep the industry from closing down while keeping on-site inspectors on the job.
In only the fourth month of his second term, Trump has again turned to Brashears as the nation’s top food safety official. Her nomination for the Senate confirmation process is now before the Senate Committee on Agriculture. A hearing date has not yet been scheduled.
When that hearing does occur, a report on the “Coronavirus Crisis” released when the Democrats last controlled the House will likely be discussed. That report uses dramatic language to report things like Brashears and her deputies were in contact with “state and local health departments,” and some industry representatives had her cell phone number.
In short, the report accused USDA officials and the industry of “prioritizing production and profits over the health of workers and communities, as at least 59,000 workers caught the virus and 259 died.”
Between Trump 45 and Trump 47, Brashears returned to Texas Tech University with the additional title of Associate Vice President of Research to her previous Professor of Food Safety and Public Health, in the Roth and Letch family Endowed Chair of Food Safety. She also serves as the Director of TTU’s International Center for Food Industry Excellence. She is a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and has three spinoff companies based on her work.
Brashears holds a B.S. in food technology from Texas Tech (magna cum laude) and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in food science from Oklahoma State University. She is married to Todd Brashears, a professor of agricultural education, and has three daughters, Bailey, Reagan (Jimenez) and Presley, as well as one son-in-law, Eli Jimenez.
Her research focuses on mitigation strategies in pre- and post-harvest environments and the emergence of antimicrobial drug resistance in agricultural ecosystems. She is primarily interested in meat, poultry and vegetable products.
She has a passion for food security. She has led international research teams to numerous places across Latin America and the Caribbean to improve food safety and security in those sectors and to set up sustainable agriculture systems in developing areas. She teaches food microbiology and food safety courses and offers industry training in food safety and security. She has received multiple awards, including the IAFP Laboratorian and AMSA Research and Industry/Extension awards. She was named a Future Icon in the Meat Industry by the National Provisioner Magazine.
If confirmed by the Senate, Brashears will become the only person to serve a second stint as Under Secretary for Food Safety. Others who’ve served in the position include Dr. Jose Emilio Esteban, Dr. Elisabeth Hagen, Dr. Richard Allen Raymond, Dr. Elsa A. Murano, and Catherine Woteki.
Last time, her nomination went to the committee on May 4, 2018, but it took until Dec. 5, 2018, for the committee to report it favorably. The full Senate, however, never got around to voting on Brashears’s first nomination before the end of the congressional session. The whole process had to be redone in January 2019.
Brashears has not been silent in academia. In 2023, she and former FDA Deputy Commissioner Frank Yiannas together called for a single federal food safety agency. Several federal legislators, including Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-CT, chair of the food safety caucus, have also called for consolidation of food safety operations, but no administrative action has been taken.
“Both of us have dedicated our careers to advancing food safety and protecting the public. We’ve both done so at the height of federal service, in academic settings, as well as within the private sector. That’s why we believe we can provide a perspective on this issue,” Brashears said in 2023.
“There aren’t too many topics more important for a nation than its ability to provide its citizens access to safe, nutritious and available food. And to do that efficiently and effectively, while being good stewards of taxpayers’ dollars, things must change. It’s time for our nation to have a unified, future-looking, single food safety strategy.”
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