FDA's Head of Foods Program Jim Jones ResignsFDA's Head of Foods Program Jim Jones Resigns

Jim Jones, deputy commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Human Foods Program, resigned on January 17, 2025, 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. RFK Jr. previously announced plans to "gut the division" upon his appointment.

Jones was the first deputy commissioner for the Human Foods Program, as of August 2023. The program areas include food safety, chemical safety, and innovative food products that bolster the resilience of the US food supply. He did, however, join the FDA in 2022 after the infant formula recall led to a nationwide shortage. 

Prior to FDA, Jones held several roles at the US Environmental Protection Agency for three decades. He worked on reducing chemicals and pesticides in the US food supply and on sustainability programs.

Jones oversaw several major FDA recalls during his tenure at the FDA. A few notables are: the FDA's investigation of contaminated applesauce linked to dozens of lead poisoning cases in children in late 2023 and the aftermath of the infant formula shortage after a wide recall. The agency worked with the USDA and the CDC on the slivered onions recall that were used for McDonald's hamburgers. He also oversaw the Biden administration's ban on Red No. 3 dye in January.

Related:JBS to Pay $83.5M Settlement

“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 in the letter. 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 Hill added in its report.

FDA Commissioner Robert Califf resigned on January 20, 2025, the first day of President Trump's second term. He believed that he was not going to be asked to stay. Califf was commissioner from February 2016 to January 2017, and again from February 2022 to 2025. He stepped down in 2017 as President Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016. In 2021, Califf returned as head of the FDA under the Biden Administration.

On February 17 as well, Social Security Administration Acting Commissioner Michelle King resigned after she refused to provide Elon Musk's newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffers at the Social Security Administration with access to sensitive information, according to a statement from PA Congressman Pat Ryan (D-PA).

Related:See How Valentine’s Day Conversation Hearts are Produced

FDA staff handling drug safety for pets and livestock lost jobs as well, an NPR report stated. The cuts at the Center for Veterinary Medicine, an arm of the FDA that regulates the safety and efficacy of drugs, food and medical devices for animals, could have lasting effects. With less staff, overworked reviewers could likely miss important safety and efficacy concerns.

As well, approximately 75,000 federal employees have accepted the White House's "deferred resignation" offer to resign but be paid through September, according to a spokesperson for the Office of Personnel Management. The offer was closed last Wednesday.

Just last week, the Trump administration fired more than 10,000 federal workers across multiple agencies as part of its "large-scale reductions" in the government workforce. With the 75,000 accepting the above-mentioned offer, that puts cuts at nearly 4% of the federal government's 2.3 million workers, USA Today reported.