The U.S. Department of Agriculture last week announced two acting leaders of its food safety division who will serve until presidential nominees for the positions are confirmed by the Senate. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue named Carmen Rottenberg as acting deputy undersecretary for food safety and Paul Kiecker as acting administrator for the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

Although FSIS does not regulate dairy food production directly, it does have jurisdiction over the safety of meat and poultry products, which include foods such as frozen, meat-topped pizzas with cheese and other dairy product-containing foods. 

As acting deputy undersecretary for food safety, Rottenberg will oversee the development, implementation and enforcement of FSIS regulations, policies and programs. Before this appointment, Rottenberg was deputy administrator of the FSIS Office of the Administrator and has held several leadership roles at FSIS over the past six years.

As acting administrator for FSIS, Kiecker will be responsible for all FSIS inspection and standard-setting activities. Kiecker has served FSIS for 29 years in several roles at the agency, most recently as deputy assistant administrator for the Office of Field Operations. 

For more information, contact John Allan, IDFA vice president of regulatory affairs and international standards, at jallan@idfa.org.