Jim Jones Resigns as FDA Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods
James “Jim” Jones resigned on Monday, February 17, 2025, as Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In his resignation letter to acting FDA Commissioner, Sara Brenner, which was obtained by Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, among other news organizations, Jones cited the Trump administration’s “indiscriminate firing” over the weekend of 89 employees from FDA’s Human Foods Program as the main reason for his resignation.
Jones was appointed Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods in September 2023 and oversaw the single largest reorganization of the Agency’s modern history in establishing the unified Human Foods Program, which was officially rolled out on October 1, 2024. Jones had said that one of the areas of focus for the Human Foods Program would be chemicals in the food supply. At a webinar held by the Alliance for a Stronger FDA on April 5, 2024, Jones said, the year ahead will be one where “we invest in food chemical safety, in particular the development and implementation of post-market reassessment of chemicals, both additives and contaminants, which occur in foods.”
FDA posted a discussion paper and held a public meeting in September 2024 on the Development of an Enhanced Systematic Process for FDA’s Post-Market Assessment of Chemicals in Food, and the Agency had been accepting stakeholder comments on the proposal through January 21, 2025. In his resignation letter, Jones said that the staffers in the Human Foods Program who were fired included employees with “highly technical expertise in nutrition, infant formula, food safety response.” He added that he was looking forward to pursuing the goal of “improving the health of Americans by reducing diet-related chronic disease and risks from chemicals in food,” but given the Trump administration’s “disdain for the very people” needed to implement food safety reform as expressed through the firings, it would be “fruitless for me to continue in this role.”
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who was recently appointed Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which oversees FDA among other agencies, stated during his Senate confirmation hearings that FDA would scrutinize the chemical additives in the food supply. Given Jones’ resignation and the firing of FDA employees, which included ten staffers who review food ingredients for safety concerns, according to Food Safety News, it remains to be seen how or whether Jones’ mandate for the Human Foods Program will be carried out.
President Trump has nominated Johns Hopkins surgeon, Dr. Marty Makary, to serve as Commissioner of FDA. His nomination has yet to be confirmed.