Michael Dutcher, DVM, Acting Assistant Commissioner for Human and Animal Food Operations
Michael Dutcher is the Acting Assistant Commissioner for Human and Animal Food Operations in the Office of Regulatory Affairs. He leads the Office of Human and Animal Food Operations (OHAFO), which includes the 12 human and animal food field offices, the Office of State Cooperative Programs, the OHAFO audit staff, and the OHAFO senior emergency response coordinators.
Dr. Dutcher directs the FDA's nationwide human and animal food operations staff responsible for investigations, compliance and enforcement, cooperative programs, auditing and systems recognition, emergency response, and analytical and administrative components. OHAFO field offices and staff conduct inspections and investigations and collect product samples from domestic and foreign human and animal food manufacturers and farms covered by the Produce Safety Rule.
Most recently, Dr. Dutcher served as the OHAFO deputy director. He helped oversee the FDA’s response to the infant formula shortage and the ongoing review and transformation of FDA’s human foods program. Previously, Dr. Dutcher was the director of the Minneapolis District Office in ORA, where he oversaw inspections, investigations, and other field work in four states, and division director for human and animal food. At the Minneapolis District, he collaborated with states and the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine to develop a risk ranking process for animal food firms that preceded CVM's current animal food risk algorithm, piloted one of the FDA’s first mutual reliance agreements with Wisconsin, and established the first partnership agreement that included strategic goals for human and animal food.
Dr. Dutcher has more than 20 years in federal service including national, regional, and local level roles at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and New York National Guard, where he was commissioned with the rank of captain. At USDA, he oversaw the bovine tuberculosis eradication program, took part in international program audits in Australia and Mexico, served on incident management teams for multiple outbreaks including bovine tuberculosis, contagious equine metritis and exotic Newcastle disease, and worked with the Wisconsin Veterinary Medical Association to develop a new approach to drug residue prevention with veterinarians and producers.
Dr. Dutcher received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Michigan State University. He performed post-graduate work in pathology and epidemiology at the University of Illinois and the University of Maryland.