"Dr. David Acheson, currently chief medical officer at the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, will become assistant commissioner for food protection, the FDA said. "

"One of Acheson's first tasks will be to develop an agencywide strategy for food safety that identifies gaps and problems in policing food safety, the agency said. "

"Acheson will also be the FDA's liaison with the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, the Agriculture Department (USDA) and other federal agencies involved in food safety issues. "

"The FDA regulates fruits, vegetables and many domestic and imported processed foods, while the USDA is responsible for meat, poultry and eggs. "

"The FDA has been under fire from U.S. lawmakers for recent foodborne illness outbreaks linked to bagged spinach, ConAgra Foods Inc.'s peanut butter and pet food made by several manufacturers. "

"The pet food contamination has been traced to imports of Chinese wheat gluten containing melamine. The tainted material may also have been used to make livestock feed for U.S. hog and poultry farms. "

"Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat and senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, criticized the FDA's latest action as a "reshuffling of management" that would do little to prevent future outbreaks. "

""The agency should already have a sense of the barriers, gaps and most critical needs in our food safety system," DeLauro said in a statement. "What is needed to adequately protect our food supply is strong enforcement authority that would require mandatory recalls of contaminated products and a commitment from agency management to follow-through with safety investigations." "

"Speaking
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