In March 2004, Dr. Richard Breitmeyer's long career in veterinarian medicine and food safety was recognized when Governor Schwarzenegger appointed him the State Veterinarian-Executive Branch in the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). In this role, Dr. Breitmeyer serves as the state's representative to local, national, and international governments and organizations on the most urgent and politically sensitive public and animal health issues. He has the statutory authority and responsibility to quarantine domestic animals or food from animal products to protect the health and safety of animals and the public.
From 1993 to 2004, Dr. Breitmeyer served as State Veterinarian and the Director of Animal Health and Food Safety Services. In this position, he oversaw an annual budget of $28 million and 250 employees engaged in programs for animal health, milk and dairy food safety, meat and poultry inspection, and livestock identification.
Prior to joining CDFA, Dr. Breitmeyer was a private practitioner in Humboldt and San Luis Obispo counties in California. He studied as an undergraduate at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and Masters of Preventive Veterinary Medicine degrees from the University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.
Throughout his career, Dr. Breitmeyer has worked to enhance food safety efforts by working closely with academia, public health agencies, and agricultural industries to identify and develop opportunities for partnerships and cooperation. For example, he helped develop the California Egg Quality Assurance Program to address specific food safety concerns in the egg industry. Today, it is nationally recognized as a model program, and more than 90 percent of California’s table eggs are produced under this voluntary food safety program.
In 2000, CDFA was asked to address the possibility of a terrorism attack on the nation's agricultural sector. As part of these planning activities, Dr. Breitmeyer currently chairs the California Food and Agriculture Defense Steering Committee. In February of 2001, then-U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Ann Veneman asked Dr. Breitmeyer to assist her agency in addressing the impact of the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom on the United States. Dr. Breitmeyer spent several weeks in Washington D.C. at the USDA providing policy direction and helping to improve communication with public and private stakeholders.
Dr. Breitmeyer has also led the effort in California to develop animal health emergency response planning and enhance his agency's working relationships with the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and other key support agencies. This effort was put to the test in 2002 during the successful eradication of exotic Newcastle disease from Southern California.
Because he strongly believes in the value of continuing professional development, Dr. Breitmeyer is an active member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the California Veterinary Medical Association, the United States Animal Health Association (USAHA), the Western States Animal Health Association, and the National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA). He is currently the USAHA third vice president and has chaired their Committee on Food Safety. He is also past chairman of NIAA Food Safety Committee and currently serves on their Executive Committee. For 10 years, Dr. Breitmeyer served on the USDA Secretary's Advisory Committee for Foreign Animal and Poultry Diseases.