Fact check: Image shows former, not current, FDA deputy commissioner

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The claim: A photo shows a current FDA deputy commissioner and former Monsanto vice president

A recent Facebook post claims a current deputy commissioner at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration also served as an executive at an agribusiness company.

The post, shared Aug. 25, is a screengrab of a purported tweet by singer Kid Rock. 

"On the left is the former vice president of Monsanto, a company that poisons everything you consume," reads the tweet. "On the right is the current Deputy Commissioner of the FDA, an agency that protects you from companies like Monsanto. This is legal."

Though the text doesn't identify him, both descriptions are accompanied by the same picture of Michael R. Taylor, an official who worked at the FDA for six years.

Paste BN found no record of the tweet, and the username shown in the image isn't the singer's Twitter-verified profile. It's unclear where the image originated, but it has been shared on websites like Reddit and iFunny.

The Facebook post accrued more than 800 shares within nine days. Other posts with the image have also been shared across the platform.

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This post is wrong about Taylor's current employment: He doesn't work at the FDA. He served as the agency's deputy commissioner for foods from 2010 until 2016. He also worked as the vice president for public policy at Monsanto, but that was almost a decade before his time at the FDA.

Paste BN reached out to the Facebook user who shared the claim for comment.

Taylor worked at FDA for six years

Taylor doesn't currently work at the FDA, according to the agency's list of people in leadership roles. The agency's principal deputy commissioner role is vacant, and the current deputy commissioner for food policy and response is Frank Yiannas.

Taylor started his role as the deputy commissioner for foods in January 2010 after being a senior adviser to the FDA's commissioner for six months, the agency said on its website at the time. Taylor was the first to hold the title, and he led the agency's efforts to plan for new food safety legislation and ensure food labels contained clear and accurate nutritional information.

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Staff video, Paste BN

The FDA announced in March 2016 that Taylor was leaving the agency, In a press release, the FDA didn't elaborate on why he was leaving.

Currently, Taylor serves on the board of directors of Stop Foodborne Illnesses, a nonprofit dedicated to the prevention of illnesses caused by food pathogens. He told Paste BN in an email that people have been sharing similar claims since the early 1990s.

They are something "folks who opposed plant biotechnology used to discredit FDA's oversight," he said. "It's a puzzle to me what makes them persist."

Taylor worked at Monsanto before FDA

Taylor worked as vice president for public policy at Monsanto, an agribusiness company, from late 1998 to early 2000, he told Paste BN.

Monsanto, which was acquired by Bayer in 2016, was a major producer of pesticides and genetically modified crops.

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