Under Secretary for Food Safety
U.S. Department of Agriculture
The Honorable Elsa Murano was sworn in as Under Secretary for Food Safety in October of 2001. She is responsible for overseeing the policies and programs of the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). Dr. Murano has extensive public and private experience in the field of food safety as both a manager and educator. Before her role as Under Secretary, Dr. Murano worked for Texas A&M University, holding many positions including director of the university’s Center for Food Safety and Chair of the Food Safety State Initiative Committee of theTexas Agriculture Experiment Station. From 1992-1995 Dr. Murano served as professor-in-charge of research programs at the Linear Accelerator Facility and Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Preventative Medicine at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.
Dr. Murano is a native of Havana, Cuba and holds a B.S. degree in biological sciences from Florida International University of Miami. She also holds a M.S. degree in anaerobic microbiology and a Ph.D. in food science and technology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute.