Laid off from IFF.

What IFF layoffs have meant for employees

Losing a job at a plant that's shutting down is rough, and the Thomson closing that 101 The Eagle reported in April 2025 had a second act. In November 2025, before the last layoff dates in the notice our WARN tracker lists had come, the site went to Jungbunzlauer, an ingredients maker, and Jungbunzlauer's closing release says the asset deal took none of IFF's employees. It also says Jungbunzlauer aims to create jobs as it readies the plant for production and will share hiring updates along the way. If Thomson was your plant, that hiring is worth watching, since the work would be in a building you already know, and if your job ended in Illinois, Illinois unemployment benefits is a place to check that state's rules.

Finding a notice for your own site takes more than one name, because IFF also owns Frutarom and Solae, two companies on its Exhibit 21 subsidiary list that have filed notices of their own, Frutarom in New Jersey and Ohio and Solae in Kentucky. Searching the tracker under International Flavors & Fragrances and under both of those names is the thorough way to look. Those older filings date from 2012 to 2019, before the programs IFF has run since 2021. IFF's two closings of 2025 were in Thomson and Corona, so layoffs in Illinois and layoffs in California are the state pages closest to its recent record, and if your California job ended, California unemployment benefits is where to check that state's rules.

IFF has also been getting smaller by selling, and the selling started well before Food Ingredients. When IFF announced its 2022 job cuts, Food Dive reported, it also planned to announce three divestitures in early 2023. Its 2025 annual report records the Pharma Solutions sale as completed in May 2025, and when IFF agreed in May 2026 to sell Food Ingredients, a segment carved out of its old Nourish business at the start of 2025, its Food Ingredients sale announcement counted 13 non-core businesses divested, that deal included. "We are exactly where we want to be with our portfolio with no significant divestitures left to do," IFF's chief executive, Erik Fyrwald, told analysts on the August 5, 2026 earnings call. If you work in Taste, Scent or Health & Biosciences, that's the company on record saying the selling is about done, though plans like that can change.

The Food Ingredients sale also leaves IFF with overhead to cut, and its second-quarter release says it will "execute with urgency" on those stranded costs, with actions already under way. On the same call, IFF said removing those costs, which had supported Food Ingredients, involves redesigning processes, rationalizing activities, simplifying systems and applications and reviewing third-party contracts, and that it isn't treating them as permanent. If your job supports Food Ingredients from inside IFF, in a shared-services team or a corporate function, it's fair to ask your manager how that plan touches your role, and to keep any answer you get in writing.

IFF's restructuring notes count headcount reductions for the company as a whole, and only about a quarter of its workforce was based in the United States as 2025 ended, so those totals can't stand in for a count of U.S. layoffs. Its severance figures are company totals in the same way. If you've been offered severance, negotiating severance covers what's worth raising before you answer, and if leaving IFF means losing your health plan, how COBRA works is worth reading next.

A sourced history of IFF layoffs

• July 2025, Corona, California closure notice

  A permanent closure of IFF's site at 790 East Harrison Street in Corona, covering 36 employees and effective September 22, 2025, appears in California's WARN report with a July 22 notice date.

• April 2025, Thomson, Illinois plant closing

  IFF told Illinois on April 22, 2025 it was closing its plant near Thomson, with 49 layoffs scheduled in stages from May 2025 into May 2026, a closing 101 The Eagle reported days later and our WARN tracker lists.

• 2024, IFF Productivity Program begins

  IFF began a productivity program in 2024 that its second-quarter 10-Q says involves ceasing operations at select manufacturing plants, consolidating leased and owned real estate and reducing headcount, with substantial completion targeted for December 31, 2026.

• December 2022, IFF announces restructuring with job cuts

  IFF announced a restructuring built mainly on headcount reduction at its December 2022 investor day, and Food Dive reported it targeted $100 million a year in savings; the program made 670 headcount reductions and was completed by the end of 2024, IFF's 2025 10-K note shows.

• 2021 to 2024, restructuring after the DuPont nutrition merger

  IFF's 2021 merger with DuPont's Nutrition & Biosciences business, a deal Food Dive put at $26.2 billion, was followed by a restructuring that made 215 headcount reductions before wrapping up at the close of 2024, the restructuring note in IFF's 10-K shows.

What to do if you're laid off from IFF

• File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. IFF's biggest hubs: Illinois, California, New Jersey, Ohio. Somewhere else? Every state is here.
• Apply for financial and hardship assistance. Unemployment supplements income, but food benefits, health coverage and utility help are often available as well. Here's some of what IFF's hub states run: Illinois, California, New Jersey, Ohio, and every other state is here.
• Mind the health insurance window. Losing coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, and an ACA plan usually beats unsubsidized COBRA. Compare your options before the employer coverage lapses, and read how the COBRA clocks run if you are weighing it seriously.
• Get your real runway number. Severance plus savings divided by reality. The calculator takes five minutes.
• Know which clocks are already running. Severance review windows, COBRA election, visa grace periods, and 401(k) rollovers all run on federal deadlines that started at termination. All five deadlines are here.