Lawmakers, meanwhile, have been agitating to transfer to a new agency the FDA's responsibility for regulating food, a drive that has gained momentum with each food scandal. The FDA is still wrestling with last year's deadly salmonella outbreak involving a Georgia peanut processing plant. More than 600 people were sickened in the months-long outbreak, and at least nine died.
FDA leaders have taken some steps to respond to the criticism, including increasing their focus on overseas inspections. But much of the reform effort has been on hold as the Obama administration worked to fill the agency's top posts.
The FDA has not had a commissioner since December, when President George W. Bush appointee Andrew von Eschenbach resigned.
As health commissioner in New York, Hamburg was widely praised for a major initiative to control the spread of tuberculosis, reducing the city's infant mortality rates and boosting child immunizations. She sits on the board of medical supply distributor Henry Schein Inc., but would have to surrender the position if confirmed by the Senate.
Hamburg would have a great deal of work to do at the FDA, said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), a leading champion of stronger federal regulation of food.
"The next commissioner faces a significant and long-term challenge in changing the culture at the agency and ensuring that the FDA once again emphasizes independent science," DeLauro said.
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noam.levey@latimes.com
