Margaret Hamburg, head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), for the last six years, announced this week that she will step down as commissioner at the end of March. She announced the decision in a letter to FDA employees, in which she praised the agency’s accomplishments, among them “creating a modernized food safety system that will reduce foodborne illness.” FDA is part way through implementing the 2010 Food Safety Modernization Act as well as phasing out medically important antibiotics in food animals. Stephen Ostroff, FDA’s chief scientist, will become acting commissioner upon Hamburg’s March departure.
