Frank Yiannas

DEPUTY COMMISSIONER FOR FOOD POLICY AND RESPONSE U.S. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION

Food safety may be Frank Yiannas’ particular area of expertise, but as he likes to say, it’s everybody’s business. Yiannas assumed his role as deputy commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration less than a year ago, and he has already established an identity as the agency’s chief ambassador for reducing food safety risk and promoting safety standards. A microbiologist by training, Yiannas spent the previous decade looking after food safety for Walmart, including championing the innovative IBM Food Trust blockchain initiative. Yiannas believes both science and culture play a role in food safety worldwide. He has gone hard after such threats, including a rebuke of the Mexican papaya industry, noting that foodborne pathogens don’t obey borders. “When it comes to food safety, we all win or lose together,” Yiannas says.