The Senate yesterday confirmed Elisabeth Hagen to serve as the USDA’s undersecretary for food safety. Hagen began serving in the position, which leads the department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), after Obama recess appointed her Aug. 19. Obama renominated Hagen Sept. 13.

Hagen was nominated for the first time in January, but the nomination was held up in the Senate Agriculture Committee until June 30, and the full Senate failed to vote on Hagen before leaving for summer recess. Fed up, Obama decided on a recess appointment to fill the critical food safety post.

Though I’m surprised the Senate addressed the new nomination with such speed after faltering for much of the year, Hagen’s official confirmation is an important development. Recess appointments expire at the end of the Senate session following the session in which the appointment occurred. So, Hagen would have been out of the job at the end of 2011 absent Senate confirmation.