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Head of FDA’s food division resignsHead of FDA’s food division resigns
Jim Jones cites layoffs of 89 workers who were “critical to [the administration’s] agenda,” per reports
Mark Hamstra
February 19, 2025
3 Min Read
Jones’ resignation comes just a few days after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as the new secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the FDA.The Food and Drug Administration
The head of the Food and Drug Administration’s food division resigned on Monday, citing his disapproval of the “indiscriminate firings” at the agency, according to multiple reports.
Jim Jones, who was named the FDA’s first deputy commissioner for human foods in September 2023 and oversaw all FDA food safety and nutrition activities, said in a letter announcing his resignation that President Trump’s administration had fired 89 people in the FDA’s food program over the weekend. The fired employees included some involved in infant formula safety and 10 people whose role was to review potentially unsafe food ingredients, the Wall Street Journal reported.
His resignation was first reported by Food Fix, a digital publication covering food policy.
A spokesperson for the FDA could not be reached for comment.
Sweeping cuts across government agencies
Jones’ resignation comes just a few days after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as the new secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the FDA. HHS has launched widespread layoffs throughout the organization, which oversees 13 divisions responsible for improving Americans’ health and providing other social services. Layoffs also include cuts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes of Health.
On Monday, former FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, who is now an instructor at the Duke University School of Medicine, said he didn’t follow the logic of the sweeping layoffs.
“Hard to understand why the expertise is being disregarded,” Califf posted on LinkedIn, as reported this week by SN sister publication CSP. “Cutting the recent hires disproportionately disadvantages the most needed areas for bolstering regulation. This is especially true of chemicals in food, where laws require complex science to make the case in a way that will withstand court challenges by industry.”
Separately, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is seeking to rehire some of the workers it recently fired who were looking into the bird flu outbreak, according to reports. The outbreak has been cited as the leading cause of the recent spike in egg prices.
In their own words: “Fruitless for me to continue”
“It has been increasingly clear that with the Trump administration’s disdain for the very people necessary to implement your agenda ... it would have been fruitless for me to continue in this role.” —Jim Jones, former deputy commissioner for human foods at the FDA, in a letter of resignation reported by the Wall Street Journal
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