President Barack Obama on Saturday chose public health and biological threat expert Dr. Margaret Hamburg to run the troubled U.S. Food and Drug Administration and announced a Cabinet-level food safety group.

Obama also outlined measures to keep diseased cows from entering the food supply and promised to increase the number of FDA food inspectors and modernize food safety labs.

He selected Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Joshua Sharfstein to serve as Hamburg’s principal deputy.

Hamburg is a former New York City health chief and she worked on policy issues in President Clinton’s health department. She has experience on topics ranging from AIDS to reduction of biological threats.

"Dr. Hamburg brings to this vital position not only a reputation of integrity but a record of achievement in making Americans safer and more secure," Obama said in his weekly radio address.

If confirmed by the Senate, Hamburg will take over an agency battered by a string of often deadly food poisoning and drug safety issues, including an ongoing outbreak of salmonella in peanut products that forced the largest food recall in U.S. history.

The choice signals the FDA’s priority under the Obama administration will be safety and not necessarily speeding through drug approvals.

Source: Reuters