Mindy Brashears is the Under Secretary for Food Safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She was nominated by President Donald J. Trump and confirmed by a Senate vote on March 23, 2020. Her responsibilities in this role include leading the nation's Food Safety and Inspection Service and its team of over 10,000 food inspectors and scientists. She also chairs the Codex Alimentarius Policy Committee, making her the highest-ranking food safety official in the U.S. government. Prior to serving in this role, she was a professor of Food Microbiology and Food Safety at the University of Nebraska and most recently, Texas Tech University where she was director for the International Center for Food Industry Excellence.
Early life and education
Brashears was born as Mindy Malynn Hardcastle in Wheeler, Texas. She grew up on a cattle and cotton farm the daughter of Gary and Becky Hardcastle. She graduated from Wheeler High School and went to Texas Tech University in Lubbock, where she majored in Food Technology within the Department of Animal and Food Sciences. She attended school on scholarship from the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. She graduated from Texas Tech in 1992 and then attended graduate school at Oklahoma State University. There, she earned an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Food Science with an emphasis in Food Microbiology under the tutelage of Stan Gilliland.
Academic career
Brashears worked at the University of Nebraska as the State Extension Food Safety Specialist from August 1997 until May 2001. From June 2001 until January 2019 she served as Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor of Food Safety at Texas Tech University. During her time at Texas Tech, she was also the Director of the International Center for Food Industry Excellence as well as a faculty member for the Center for Biodefense, Law and Public Policy in the Texas Tech School of Law. She was a prolific researcher and author with over 130 research papers cited over 2,700 times resulting in an index of 37.2 on ResearchGate. In 2016, she was selected as a Fellow in the National Academy of Inventors. Her induction ceremony took place on April 6, 2017, as part of the NAI’s sixth annual convention at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.
Public life
In June of 2017, Brashears provided expert testimony in the case of Beef Products Inc. verses American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., ABC News and other named individuals. BPI's lawyer, Dan Webb contended that ABC's use of the phrase "pink slime" in 2012 made BPI lose customers. During her testimony regarding the legal definition of "beef" she stated, "Slime is not beef. It does not meet any of the definitions of beef. It is false to call LFTB 'pink slime.' It is not 'pink slime." ABC and BPI settled the case, reportedly for $177 million.
