Head of FDA food division resigns over 'indiscriminate firing' of personnel

The head of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration food division, which helps ensure the country's food supply is safe, resigned Monday following what he called the "indiscriminate firing" of roughly 89 people, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Jim Jones, deputy commissioner for human foods, explained his resignation in a letter to the agency's acting commissioner. A source confirmed the following excerpts to ABC News.

"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 said. "It has been increasingly clear that with the Trump Administration's disdain for the very people necessary to implement your agenda, however, it would have been fruitless for me to continue in this role."

Among those fired at the FDA: staff working on nutrition and infant formula safety and staff hired to review potentially unsafe food ingredients, according to two sources with knowledge of the firings.

It comes as a federal judge on Monday questioned the authority of billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency but was skeptical of a request to block DOGE from accessing sensitive data and firing employees at half a dozen federal agencies.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan held a hearing on a request from 14 states for a temporary restraining order seeking to curtail Musk's power in President Donald Trump's quest to downsize the federal government. Chutkan said she would rule within 24 hours.

The requests came from Democratic attorneys general, who had filed a lawsuit challenging what they called Musk's "unchecked power." The states are seeking to block DOGE from firing employees and accessing data at the federal Office of Personnel Management along with six federal agencies that oversee health and human services, education, energy, transportation, labor, and commerce.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.