Dive Summary:
- Current U.S. regulations on food additives were written over 50 years ago; since then, the amount of chemicals in food has risen from less than 2,000 to about 10,000.
- Many of these additives have never been reviewed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as they have been "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS) by food companies and/or their advisors; the FDA can challenge GRAS chemicals and prove they are harmful, but does not typically do so.
- FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg hinted at possible FDA action at the Reuters Health Summit, "Our system really puts the onus on us to prove harm. It's perhaps a time to look at what the legal framework looks like and what opportunities there are now to ask and answer questions in new ways because of advances in science and technology. We are an agency with a wonderful history, but many of our laws are rooted in a different historical era. An important question to ask is, would this be a good time to look at this issue again?"
From the article:
"... According to research by the Pew Charitable Trusts' food additives project, which is conducting a three-year investigation into food additive regulation, 1,000 chemicals have been self-affirmed by industry as GRAS without notice to the FDA.
Another 2,000 chemicals have been declared GRAS by the Flavor and Extracts Manufacturers Association, which submits information to the FDA, though the FDA does not review it, according to Pew, bringing to about 3,000 the number of chemicals in the food supply never reviewed by the FDA. ..."
