Food safety director to step down

Garry McKee, administrator of the Agriculture Department's Food Safety and Inspection Service, will step down from the post he has held since July 2003. He will move to the agency's Technical Service Center in Omaha, Neb., where he will serve as an adviser to the center's director.

Prior to his appointment as FSIS administrator, McKee was the director of the Wyoming Department of Health.

McKee's departure comes as the Agriculture Department is grappling with a number of serious food and animal safety issues, including the discoveries of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in a Holstein cow in Washington State in December, and a highly pathogenic form of avian influenza in a chicken flock in Texas earlier this week.

Agriculture officials say there is no indication that BSE poses a threat to human health in the United States, and the strain of avian influenza discovered in Texas is not known to be transmissible to humans. Nonetheless, the diseases could have devastating economic consequences for the beef and poultry industries.

Dr. Barbara Masters, a public health veterinarian and a senior official in the agency's field operations office, will become acting FSIS administrator, according to agency sources. FSIS officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday evening.