Several U.S. Food and Drug Administration employees have been fired over the weekend as part of a broader federal workforce purge, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Probationary employees across the FDA received termination notices Saturday evening, according to three staffers who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, as they were not authorized to comment publicly.

The exact number of eliminated positions remained unclear Sunday, but the cuts primarily targeted employees in the agency’s centers for food, medical devices, and tobacco products, which oversee e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches and other novel nicotine products.

It was uncertain whether staff responsible for premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) reviews were affected by the layoffs.

The FDA, headquartered in Maryland just outside Washington, D.C., employs nearly 20,000 people and has been a frequent target of newly sworn-in Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. Last year, Kennedy accused the agency of waging a “war on public health” for refusing to approve unproven treatments like psychedelics, stem cells, and chelation therapy.

Kennedy made headlines recently for using ALP nicotine pouches during his Senate confirmation hearing, a brand owned by Tucker Carlson and produced by Turning Point Brands. Kennedy has also advocated for banning thousands of chemicals and colorings from U.S. foods.

However, the recent FDA staff cuts included employees responsible for reviewing the safety of new nicotine products or food additives and ingredients, according to an FDA staffer familiar with the firings.