Attorney Kyle Diamantas Expected to Replace Jim Jones as FDA Deputy Commissioner of Human Foods
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Attorney Kyle Diamantas, J.D. is expected to replace former Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods James (Jim) Jones at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), following Mr. Jones’ resignation on February 17, 2025, according to Bloomberg.
Mr. Diamantas, most recently a Partner at Jones Day in Miami, Florida, is also listed as a Special Assistant at FDA in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) employee directory.
An archived version of Mr. Diamantas’ bio on Jones Day’s website from November 2024—accessed by Food Safety Magazine using the Wayback Machine, as the original webpage for which has since been taken down—calls him a “trusted advocate with more than ten years of experience advising food, cosmetic, dietary supplement, drug, and other life sciences and consumer goods clients on a wide range of regulatory, compliance, and enforcement matters.” The archived webpage says Mr. Diamantas “is often called upon to solve complex issues and disputes that intersect the boundary between regulatory and commercial matters,” and that he also provides “subject matter analysis in defense of litigation involving regulated products and general consumer packaged goods and personal care products.” His experience includes litigation related to infant formula, cannabidiol (CBD), and other food, cosmetic, and consumer products.
Mr. Diamantas has authored several articles on federal and state food regulatory topics, including articles covering FDA’s Human Foods Program and Enhancing Post-Market Food Chemical Safety Assessments (a priority of former Deputy Commissioner Jones), per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), FDA remote inspections, the California Food Safety Act, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Organic Rule, FDA and USDA labeling regulations, FDA’s Food Traceability Final Rule, FDA’s “Healthy” claim, and other issues.
Neither FDA nor Mr. Diamantas responded to Bloomberg’s request for comments.
Mass Firings at FDA’s Human Foods Program Leading to Deputy Commissioner Jones’ Resignation
Mr. Jones resigned as FDA Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods on February 17, following the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as HHS Secretary and the subsequent mass firing of employees at FDA (alongside other federal public health agencies).
An objective of Secretary Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda is to address the overuse of “unsafe” or unhealthy chemicals and ingredients in the U.S. food supply, leading to the rise of dietary-related chronic diseases in the American people. Influential public health, food industry, and consumer protection groups and experts have shared their concern about the layoffs at FDA leading to the resignation of Mr. Jones, saying that “an under-resourced food safety agency could jeopardize Secretary Kennedy’s stated objectives to improve nutrition and ingredient safety.”
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In his resignation letter, Mr. Jones cited 89 “indiscriminate” layoffs among staffers in the Human Foods Program, who include employees with “highly technical expertise in nutrition, infant formula, food safety response,” as the reason for his resignation. Of these layoffs, ten included staffers whose job it was to review potentially unsafe ingredients in food.
“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,” Mr. Jones said in the resignation letter unearthed by Bloomberg, but given the Trump Administration’s “disdain for the very people" needed to make these changes, as expressed through the layoffs, it would be “fruitless for me to continue in this role.”
Mr. Jones assumed the role of the first Deputy Commissioner of FDA’s newly restructured Human Foods Program in September 2023. The new Human Foods Program structure was officially implemented in October 2024. Notable food safety-related actions that were taken at FDA under his leadership include banning controversial red dye 3 from foods, among other additives like brominated vegetable oil; progress toward a strengthened, systematic post-market review process for chemicals in foods; and the publication of a long-term strategy to increase the resiliency of the U.S. infant formula market.
Update, February 25, 2025: According to multiple sources, FDA and USDA are looking to re-hire some employees who were dismissed by the presidential administration, including staffers responsible for reviewing food ingredient safety and avian influenza response.
Update, February 28, 2025: Mr. Diamantas is now listed on FDA's website as the Acting Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods. The listing says:
"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 J.D. from the University of Florida Levin College of Law and a Bachelor’s in Pre-Law Political Science from the University of Central Florida."
Update, March 5, 2025: Following mass layoffs that swept regulatory agencies, including those responsible for food safety and foodborne illness response, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has walked back its orders to fire probationary employees at federal agencies.
Update, March 6, 2025: According to the New York Times, as a partner at Jones Day, Mr. Diamantas previously defended Abbott Laboratories in a lawsuit accusing the company of failing to adequately warn parents that its specialized formula for premature infants was associated with an elevated risk of a deadly bowel condition. Jones Day lost the lawsuit and $495,000 was awarded to the plaintiffs.
