Fed workforce cuts hit FDA foods program
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
A Food and Drug Administration division that went through a major reorganization to address concerns about food safety was caught up in the Trump administration's federal workforce cuts.
Why it matters: The fledgling Unified Human Foods Program was created in the wake of high-profile safety failures, including the baby formula crisis, and was the agency's key resource on improving food safety as well as nutrition policy.
Driving the news: On Monday, the FDA's deputy commissioner for human foods, Jim Jones, resigned from his position.
- He cited the recent "indiscriminate" cuts of 89 staffers over the weekend and said it would be "fruitless" to stay in his post, according to a letter obtained by Bloomberg.
Between the lines: The moves raise questions about how Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again agenda will be implemented by the FDA, experts said.
- Jones resignation "is a significant blow," Capstone analysts wrote in a note this week.
- "Kennedy will be further hard-pressed to implement a sweeping MAHA agenda that will improve food safety meaningfully or be able to withstand the inevitable litigation filed by industry against any major new rules," they wrote.
As a former Environmental Protection Agency leader, Jones was particularly focused in his work on the role of chemicals in the food system, which aligns closely with MAHA's goals, said Jerold Mande, former deputy undersecretary at the Department of Agriculture.
- Jones recently oversaw recent moves such as the ban on the Red No. 3 dye in food.
- "Those efforts seems to have removed the work that's been done over the last year and a half where they've brought in sort of a new, energized team to take on this problem, and that's been what's removed as opposed to out-of-date parts of the food program that should be updated," Mande said.
