Sharri A. McGarry
Ms.
McGarry is a Microbiologist on the Emergency Coordination and Response staff in
the Office of Compliance, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, U.S.
Food and Drug Administration. In this role Ms. McGarry investigates and
responds to emergencies, including terrorism events, involving food and cosmetic
products regulated by FDA. These activities involve coordination with other
federal agencies, industry, states, foreign government, and other stakeholders.
Ms. McGarry was involved in development of Emergency Plans and Procedures for
both the Center and Agency, has participated in bioterrorism exercises while
providing microbiological expertise in ongoing foodborne outbreaks and
emergencies. She’s developed food security assignments involving field and
laboratory analyses during heightened national security threat levels. With
respect to food safety, Ms. McGarry has developed and trained government and
international officials in Good Agricultural Practices and served on teams
investigating fruit production and packing related to outbreak investigations.
She lead the implementation of integrating food pathogen data into various
epidemiological surveillance systems working with Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention. She has worked for the FDA for 12 years. She previously worked
in the shellfish program evaluating domestic and international laboratories and
has conducted wastewater disinfection research. Ms. McGarry earned a Master of
Science degree in Microbiology from the University of the Rhode Island. She is
a member of the International Association for Food Protection, American Society
for Microbiologist, and the International AOAC.
Fighting Food Terrorism
As part of the nation's critical infrastructure, the safety of the food supply has become an increasing concern with the threat of terrorism. While responding to food tampering isn't new to FDA, the scope and agents of a potential food related terrorism event is unprecedented. Our nation's food supply is one of the safest in the world and FDA wants to keep it that way. Learn about FDA's food security efforts involving preparedness and response. Some specific topics include the Bioterrorism Act of 2002, counterterrorism food research, food security guidance to industry, and coping with the exploding volume and variety of imported foods.