USDA Names New FSIS Administrator; Kiecker Moves to New FSIS Role

Nov. 22, 2024

Dr. Denise Eblen will move from Office of Public Health Science to FSIS administrator, while Paul Kiecker will shift to a role with the Office of Investigation, Enforcement and Audit.

Andy Hanacek

The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has announced leadership changes that will take effect Dec. 9, 2024.

Current FSIS administrator Paul Kiecker will move to the role of assistant administrator in the Office of Investigation, Enforcement and Audit after nearly five years as FSIS administrator. Kiecker was named to that role in February 2020 and has served FSIS for more than three decades, starting in 1988 as a food inspector.

Taking Kiecker’s place as FSIS administrator will be current FSIS assistant administrator for the Office of Public Health Science, Dr. Denise Eblen, who has served in that role since 2018. Eblen has led the agency’s scientific analysis, overseeing its laboratories and testing of regulatory samples, risk assessment, and outbreak investigation and response. She brings 25 years of USDA experience to her new position, including roles with USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Agricultural Research Service.

About the Author

Andy Hanacek | Senior Editor

Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.