Veneman began her legal career as a staff attorney with the General Counsel's office of the Bay Area Rapid Transit District in Oakland, California, in 1976.
In 1995, Veneman re-entered government, when she was appointed Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, again being the first woman to hold the position.
From 1999 to 2001, Veneman was an attorney with Nossaman LLP, where she focused her attention on food, agriculture, environment, technology, and trade related issues.
[8] "This publication outlines emerging trends in agriculture, with a focus on farm-sector policy, trade expansion, infrastructure enhancement, conservation and the environment, rural communities, nutrition and food assistance, and USDA program integration.
"[9] Within weeks after taking office, Veneman confronted the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Europe, prompting stronger sanitary and phytosanitary measures.
After taking initial steps in response, one week later, on December 30, 2003, Veneman announced additional protective measures to be put into place.
[4] These included a ban on "downer," or nonambulatory cattle, from the human food supply; additional food-safety measures in the processing of beef and related products; and an acceleration of "the development of the technology architecture" for a national system to track and identify livestock.
U.S. trading partners made sometimes-conflicting demands on the United States, while public-interest, consumer and farm groups called for differing protection measures and responses.
In 2004, Veneman finalized the transition from paper food stamps to electronic debit cards in an effort to reduce fraud and increase availability of these programs to more families in need.
Under Veneman, after a comprehensive scientific review, new Dietary Guidelines for Americans were released, which formed the basis for USDA's MyPyramid.
As part of several actions to implement the President's Management Agenda (PMA), Veneman began USDA's e-Government Initiative, which made an unprecedented array of programs and services available electronically.
Nutrition is now widely recognized as integral to both health and food security, with particular attention to children under age two whose cognitive ability will likely be permanently diminished without adequate nourishment in those formative years.
In February 2007 UNICEF co-hosted a worldwide conference with France, bringing together representatives from 58 countries including those most affected by the use of child soldiers to end this practice.
To address this, the Conference resulted in the release of what is known as The Paris Principles, a detailed set of guidelines for protecting children from recruitment and for providing effective assistance to those already involved with armed groups or forces.
"[12] In 2007, Veneman helped launch a partnership with renowned US playwright and 'V-Day' founder Eve Ensler in 2007,[13] to bring awareness and change to the sexual abuse and violence of women in the DRC.
UNICEF estimates that hundreds of thousands of women and girls have been raped since the conflict began in eastern DRC more than a decade ago.
In December 2009, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said of Veneman, "She has fulfilled her mandate with immense dedication, and I have been impressed by her extraordinary energy and determination to improve children's health, education and well-being around the world.
[4] Forbes cited Veneman in part because she "played a key role in the joint effort by UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Population Fund and the World Bank to help accelerate progress on maternal and newborn health in the 25 countries with the highest rates of infant mortality worldwide.
Nutrition campaign groups criticized Veneman's involvement with Nestlé because of the company's violation of a global code restricting advertising of breast milk substitutes.