Press Office
Food and Drug Administration
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services


NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS                                   Print Media:        202-205-4144
January 18, 2000		                         
						         Consumer Inquiries: 888-INFO-FDA

FDA OFFICES OF FOOD LABELING AND SPECIAL NUTRITIONALS MERGE

CFSAN Director Joseph A. Levitt today announced the merger of the Office of Food Labeling and the Office of Special Nutritionals to be called the Office of Nutritional Products, Labeling and Dietary Supplements (ONPLDS) and headed by Acting Director Dr. Christine Lewis.

The new structure has been developed to maximize the resources in the two offices, improving the way FDA performs related functions such as health claims and overlapping labeling issues. The reorganization is designed to further enhance FDA's science-based approach to addressing dietary supplement and food labeling issues. All current functions of these offices will be maintained in the new office.

Dr. Lewis, who will serve as the Acting Director for the new office, has been at FDA since 1986. She has worked in both offices, first in the Clinical Nutrition Section and in the Office of Food Labeling, and most recently as the Deputy Director of the Office of Special Nutritionals. In 1995, she was selected to spend a year in Rome with the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization to work on a special project involving international harmonization of food labeling and food composition databases. Prior to coming to FDA, she worked as an assistant professor at Pennsylvania State University, teaching both undergraduate and graduate nutrition-related courses. Dr. Lewis received her bachelor's degree in food microbiology at the University of Connecticut and her master's degree in biochemistry and doctoral degree in nutrition and statistics from Pennsylvania State University.

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