Dr. Jean Buzby is the USDA Food Loss and Waste Liaison in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of the Chief Economist. She is USDA’s lead on food loss and waste activities and works with a broad range of public and private stakeholders.  Prior to this position, she worked for USDA’s Economic Research Service for more than 20 years, most recently as the Chief of the Diet, Safety, and Health Economics Branch.  Before moving into management, her primary areas of research as an agricultural economist were food safety, food consumption, and food loss and waste. Jean's food safety research included estimating the cost of foodborne illness, analyzing the legal incentives for firms to produce safer food, and exploring international trade and food safety issues. She is domestically and internationally known for her research on the amount and value of food loss at the retail and consumer levels in the United States.