HHS In role
Donald Prater
Acting Deputy Commissioner for Food — head of the FDA Human Foods Program
Veterinarian (D.V.M.) serving as acting deputy commissioner for food since May 2026, heading the FDA's Human Foods Program. He owns the agency's food safety and nutrition policy portfolio — GRAS reform, post-market chemical reassessment, the petroleum-dye phase-out, and the first federal definition of 'ultra-processed food.'
Role status — October 2026: Prater is the acting deputy commissioner for food, head of the FDA’s Human Foods Program, a role he has held since May 2026. He succeeded Kyle Diamantas in the job when Diamantas moved up to acting commissioner.
Prater, a veterinarian (D.V.M.), sits at the point where the administration’s food agenda becomes regulation. The Human Foods Program owns all FDA food safety and nutrition policy, which in 2026 means the core MAHA food files: chemical safety, labeling, and the definition of ultra-processed food.
His record in the role so far is the regulatory machinery itself. The GRAS reform effort — a mandatory-notification proposed rule published August 10, 2026 — runs through his program, as does the post-market food-chemical reassessment program, finalized October 8, 2026, with reassessments of BHT and azodicarbonamide launched from the program’s Office of Post-Market Assessment under him. He also owns execution of the petroleum-dye phase-out and the work on the first federal definition of “ultra-processed food.”
Why tracked here: Prater is the official who turns the MAHA food promises into FDA rules — GRAS, dyes, chemical reassessment, and the ultra-processed definition all run through his office.
Sources (Oct 2026): Food Dive, May 18, 2026; FDA leadership page (updated Oct. 7, 2026); Keller & Heckman PackagingLaw on Human Foods Program 2026 priorities.