Former US environmental official James Jones was named the US Food and Drug Administration’s top food regulator as the agency recovers from a bruising controversy over its role in a nationwide shortage of infant formula.
(Bloomberg) — Former US environmental official James Jones was named the US Food and Drug Administration’s top food regulator as the agency recovers from a bruising controversy over its role in a nationwide shortage of infant formula.
Jones, who spent three decades at the US Environmental Protection Agency, will be Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods, the FDA said Wednesday in a statement. Jones also served on a panel that reviewed FDA’s foods program last year, and is currently president of J. Jones Environmental consulting firm.
The regulator has faced scrutiny from critics who say it responded slowly to questions about safety at an Abbott Laboratories formula manufacturing site, which led to the shortage. Lawmakers have also lambasted the agency for delays in imposing limits on heavy metals in baby food.
Among the challenges facing Jones is unifying the FDA’s various food divisions, whose competing leadership and interests were scrutinized in the review of the FDA’s food divisions last year. Food responsibilities at the FDA are shared among the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, the Office of Food Policy and Response and parts of the Office of Regulatory Affairs. The report, led by the Reagan-Udall Foundation, said that structure “reinforces duplicative or competing roles and responsibilities, siloed work, and inadequate internal and external engagement.”
Review Impact
Frank Yiannas, who served as deputy commissioner for food policy and response, resigned from his position in January, citing concerns about inheriting a decentralized structure of the foods program that he said significantly impaired the agency’s ability to operate as an integrated team and protect the public. Susan Mayne, who previously led the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, announced her retirement in May.
Read More: FDA’s Food Program Needs Strong Leader, Outside Review Finds
The agency aims to address this problem with the appointment of Jones, who will have full authority over all food-related resources. In response to the report, the agency in June proposed changes to the Office of Regulatory Affairs, which is responsible for conducting investigations, inspections and imports for all FDA-regulated products.
While at the EPA, Jones oversaw efforts including a reduction in the impact of chemicals and pollution on the US food supply. He also played a key role in the 2016 overhaul of the Toxic Substances Control Act that aimed to make it easier for the agency to regulate such compounds.
Jones “has a deep understanding of the organizational and cultural challenges facing the FDA’s foods program,” Scott Faber, the Environmental Working Group’s senior vice president for government affairs, said in an emailed statement, calling him, “the right leader at the right moment for the FDA.”
Jones’ work at EPA gives him a “deep understanding of the unique needs of government programs involved in upholding safety of the US food supply, as well as the important role that the agriculture community and state partners play,” Tom Neltner, senior director of safer chemicals at the Environmental Defense Fund, said in a statement.
(Adds Jones’ career history and reactions to the pick in final section)
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