Jim Jones, FDA deputy commissioner for human foods, resigns over mass staff cuts

Jim Jones, the first deputy commissioner for human foods at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, has resigned, according to multiple media outlets.

The news was first reported by Food Fix, and Jones' resignation letter was first reported by Bloomberg News.

The move comes after the Trump administration fired thousands of employees across the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, including many within FDA’s foods program, Food Fix reported.

Jones cited “indiscriminate” layoffs of 89 staff members, including key technical experts, The Guardian reported.

In his resignation letter to the acting FDA commissioner, Sara Brenner, seen by Bloomberg News, Jones said the cuts would make it “fruitless” to continue in his role given the Trump administration’s “disdain for the very people” needed to implement food safety reforms, The Guardian reported.

“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.

Scoop: Jim Jones has resigned as FDA deputy commissioner for human foods.

The move comes after the Trump administration over the weekend fired thousands of employees across HHS, including many within FDA’s foods program.https://t.co/HPZBDDVtyA

— Helena Bottemiller Evich (@hbottemiller) February 17, 2025

New FDA deputy commissioner for human foods named

Kyle Diamantas, has been named acting deputy commissioner for human foods, according to the FDA's website.

His profile on the FDA website states that he leads the agency’s Human Foods Program and oversees all FDA nutrition and food safety activities:

"Mr. Diamantas exercises authority over all Human Food Program entities and operations, including resource allocation, risk-prioritization strategy and decision making, policy initiatives, and major response activities involving human foods Mr. Diamantas also oversees food resources in the agency’s Office of Inspections and Investigations. As the FDA’s top food executive, Mr. Diamantas sets the strategic direction and operations for food policy in the U.S., while serving as a critical liaison between the agency, Department of Health and Human Services, and The White House. He also represents the agency on food activities and matters in dealings with foreign governments and international organizations. Mr. Diamantas has extensive experience working with various federal and state agencies and policy makers, scientific organizations, consumer advocacy groups, and industry stakeholders. He has wide-ranging experience on matters spanning regulatory, compliance, investigative, enforcement, rulemaking, and legislation. Mr. Diamantas holds a juris doctor from the University of Florida Levin College of Law and a bachelor’s in pre-law political science from the University of Central Florida."

Jim Jones' time as FDA deputy commissioner for human foods

Jones joined the FDA in September 2023 as the agency's first deputy commissioner for human foods. He was tasked with leading the charge in advancing priorities for a proposed unified Human Foods Program and overhauling an organizational system that he calls “fundamentally flawed.”

Produce Grower magazine's sister publication, Quality Assurance magazine, interviewed Jones, and the conversation ran as the cover story in the August 2024 issue of Produce Grower.

Read the full conversation in Quality Assurance & Food Safety here.

Jones spent 30 years working at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, primarily as a pesticide regulator, and served on the Reagan-Udall Foundation’s Independent Expert Panel for Foods, which submitted a report on the operational evaluation of the FDA’s Human Foods Program to the agency in December 2022 — experiences that he said prepared him for the new FDA role.

" ... As we talked to stakeholders, it was remarkable, whether they were in academia, the public interest community or industry, just how uniformly stakeholders were impressed with the staff who works here, which reinforces the idea fundamentally of a structure problem," Jones told Quality Assurance in relation to the FDA Human Foods Program. "There was consensus that the agency is not resourced well enough, which I can assure you is true. But everybody had nothing but the highest praise for the employees who work here, which was my experience when I was at EPA, and it has been absolutely my experience since I’ve been here at FDA."

Jones's goals for the role included increased public participation, stakeholder engagement and overall transparency. He wanted to see the agency make progress on nutrition, and he also set goals for microbiological issues and food safety.