FDA's food safety head resigns over mass layoffs

Jim Jones, the head of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) food division, resigned Monday, citing the mass firings of agency staff.

According to a copy of his resignation letter viewed by The Hill, Jones said the “indiscriminate firing” of 89 staff members in his division would undermine the agenda championed by newly confirmed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“I was looking forward to working to pursue the Department’s agenda of improving the health of Americans by reducing diet-related chronic disease and risks from chemicals in food,” Jones wrote. But he said it would be “fruitless” to continue in his role due to the Trump administration’s “disdain for the very people necessary to implement” that agenda.

“The indiscriminate firing of 89 staff in the Human Foods Program is beyond short sighted,” Jones added. “Their termination will be one more roadblock to achieving the Secretary’s stated objectives of making America healthy again.”

In his letter, Jones said that the staff members laid off "represent the future of the agency."

The FDA press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Jones’s resignation was first reported Monday by the food industry newsletter Food Fix.

While defending the agency agenda, Jones also singled out Kennedy’s continued assertions that the FDA is corrupt and too beholden to corporate special interests.

“The Secretary’s comments impugning the integrity of the food staff, asserting they are corrupt based on falsities is a disservice to everyone,” Jones wrote.

He noted that the food program is more than 99 percent funded by congressional appropriations, not industry user fees.

Jones joined the FDA in 2022 following a recall of infant formula that led to a nationwide shortage. He most recently oversaw a ban on the Red No. 3 dye in foods, which came in the waning days of the Biden administration.

Scott Faber, senior vice president of government affairs at the Environmental Working Group advocacy organization, said Jones’s resignation “is a huge step backward for the FDA and the safety of our food.”

“If the administration is truly committed to making America healthier, the administration should rescind cuts to food safety staff and plead with Jim to return to the FDA to finish the work he started,” Faber said in a statement.

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