Three years in the making, FDA’s new Human Foods Program kicks off on Oct. 1

The FDA reached a significant milestone when it approved its reorganization and created its new unified Human Foods Program (HFP).

It is one of the most significant reorganizations in FDA’s history.

The new model for field operations and other significant modernization efforts is only days away, with Oct. 1 set as the implementation date.

It came about partly because Helena Bottemiller Evich, a former Food Safety News staff writer, left a bomb entitled “The FDA’s Food Failure” close to her departure from Politico.

Evich, who continues to write about food policy for the subscriber-based Food Fix, published the critical report in April 2022. The FDA has been working on its “fix” ever since.

The reforms began when Jim Jones joined the FDA  in September 2023 as the agency’s first Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods. 

In this new executive position, which reports directly to the FDA Commissioner, Jones led the charge in setting and advancing priorities for a proposed, unified Human Foods Program (HFP), which includes food safety, chemical safety, and nutrition activities. 

Jones came to the FDA with intimate knowledge of the foods program, having served on the Reagan-Udall Foundation’s Independent Expert Panel, which evaluated it in 2022. 

According to FDA, the new Human Foods Program will “notably enhance the agency’s ability to oversee and protect the human food supply and other products the FDA regulates.”

The reorganization will enable the FDA to be more efficient, nimble, and prepared for the ever-changing and complex industries we regulate, new food technologies, and the impacts of globalization, climate change, and other factors that require the agency to adapt quickly. 

The FDA says it is focused on transforming the agency to be more efficient, nimble, and ready for the future with the ever-changing and complex industries we regulate, including the emergence of new food technologies, the impacts of globalization, climate change, and other factors that require the FDA to adapt to an evolving world quickly. 

In January 2023, the FDA announced it would develop a reorganization proposal to create a unified Human Foods Program and restructure its field operations (Office of Regulatory Affairs) after carefully reviewing the findings and recommendations of the Reagan-Udall Foundation evaluation an internal review of the agency’s infant formula response and feedback from external and internal stakeholders. 

The FDA completed its proposed reorganization package in December 2023. After undergoing a formal external review process required for all federal reorganizations, the FDA received approval of the reorganization package in May 2024. The reorganization is considered final, and the FDA plans to implement it on Oct. 1, 2024. 

The changes in the reorganization will allow the agency to:

• More effectively realize the preventive vision in the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. 
• Elevate the importance of nutrition to help reduce diet-related diseases.
• Strengthen state partnerships and embrace innovative food and agricultural technologies, which will position the agency to more effectively regulate and uphold the safety of the nation’s food supply. 
• Allow the FDA to make additional improvements to modernize and strengthen the entire agency to work cohesively and collaboratively to accomplish its public health mission.

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