US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy has begun the process of eliminating a US Food and Drug Administration program called GRAS, or \u201cgenerally recognized as safe,\u201d that critics say has been abused by the food industry for decades. <\/p>\n
Nearly 99% of new chemicals used in food or food packaging since 2000 were green-lit for use not by the FDA but by the food and chemical industry, according to a 2022 analysis. <\/p>\n
Related article<\/span> They\u2019re up to 70% of the American diet. But the US has no policy on ultraprocessed foods<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n During that period, food manufacturers asked the FDA\u2019s permission to introduce a new substance only 10 times, according to the analysis conducted by the Environmental Working Group, or EWG, an environmental and health advocacy organization based in Washington. <\/p>\n \u201cFor far too long, ingredient manufacturers and sponsors have exploited a loophole that has allowed new ingredients and chemicals, often with unknown safety data, to be introduced into the U.S. food supply without notification to the FDA or the public,\u201d Kennedy said in a statement Monday. <\/p>\n \u201cEliminating this loophole will provide transparency to consumers,\u201d he said, and \u201chelp get our nation\u2019s food supply back on track by ensuring that ingredients being introduced into foods are safe.\u201d <\/p>\n Experts applauded the move, calling it long overdue, but questioned how realistic any change will be. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m all for dealing with the GRAS loophole. It\u2019s way past time for the FDA to close it,\u201d said Marion Nestle, the Paulette Goddard Professor Emerita of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, in an email. <\/p>\n \u201cFood companies should not decide for themselves whether their additives are safe,\u201d said Nestle, who has written books on the politics of the food industry. <\/p>\n \u201cHowever, it\u2019s hard for me to believe that this administration will give the FDA the resources it needs \u2014 and this means well-paid experts in food toxicology \u2014 to take on additive assessments, especially while agency personnel are being fired right and left,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf, who resigned from his position on January 20, added that any reform would have to make it past the powerful food industry lobby, which has traditionally fought change. <\/p>\n Related article<\/span> Black-colored plastic used for kitchen utensils and toys linked to banned toxic flame retardants<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIf it were to happen, it would be a real reversal of years of lobbying and politicians who mostly were blocking the efforts to make this happen,\u201d Califf said. \u201cThe industry has resisted it; the Republican Congress has blocked it. Now, if they\u2019re in favor, let\u2019s take advantage of it and get this done. I\u2019d be all for it.\u201d <\/p>\n On Monday, Kennedy announced that he had met with the chief executive officers of Kraft Heinz, General Mills, Tyson Foods, Kellogg\u2019s, Smuckers and Pepsi to discuss a solution. <\/p>\n \u201cYou should be able to exercise informed choice. You should know what that product is, what\u2019s in your food and what the health impacts are, and that\u2019s all we\u2019re going to do,\u201d Kennedy told Fox News host Sean Hannity in an interview aired Monday night. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to incentivize people, to incentivize companies to be transparent, and we\u2019re going to inform Americans about what\u2019s making them sick,\u201d Kennedy said. \u201cNobody wants to be sick.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cWe look forward to continued engagement with the secretary and the qualified experts within HHS to support public health, build consumer trust and promote consumer choice,\u201d Hockstad said. <\/p>\n Created by a 1958 amendment to the 1938 Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, GRAS was intended to be narrowly applied to safe, commonly used ingredients such as garlic, oil, vinegar and baking soda. In 1997, however, an overwhelmed and underfunded FDA made the program voluntary, allowing industry to say a substance was GRAS without first providing safety data to the agency. <\/p>\n Since then, critics say, food manufacturers have introduced numerous untested additives into the food supply, many of which have later been identified as harmful. <\/p>\n One of these, brominated vegetable oil or BVO \u2014 a vegetable oil used in citrus sodas and sports drinks \u2014 was declared no longer GRAS in 1970. But the FDA did not officially ban the additive from use in the US food supply until July 2024. <\/p>\n Related article<\/span> Red dye No. 3 is now banned in the US. Here\u2019s what studies show about more common dyes<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe FDA knew for decades that brominated vegetable oil, or BVO, would be harmful, but it was allowed to remain in use at the request of food manufacturers,\u201d Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias said at a September news briefing. Giannoulias was a coauthor of the Illinois Food Safety Act, which passed the Illinois Senate and is currently before the House of Representatives. <\/p>\n Tired of waiting for the FDA, other states have also acted. In October 2023, California banned four substances \u2014 BVO, potassium bromate, propylparaben and red dye No. 3 \u2014 due to links with serious health concerns as cancer, endocrine and reproductive issues, and heart and liver problems. <\/p>\n The FDA banned red dye No. 3 in January, more than 30 years after scientists discovered links to cancer in animals. A synthetic color additive made from petroleum and chemically known as erythrosine, red dye No. 3 was used to give foods, candy and beverages a bright cherry-red color. <\/p>\n Additional chemicals being targeted by legislative bills in 31 states include red dye No. 40; blue dye No. 1 and No. 2; green dye No. 3; yellow dye No. 5 and No. 6; titanium dioxide; and azodicarbonamide, a dough conditioner that is also used in yoga mats, <\/strong>according to the Environmental Working Group. <\/p>\n Eliminating the GRAS loophole would require companies to \u201cpublicly notify the FDA of their intended use of [new] ingredients, along with underlying safety data, before they are introduced in the food supply,\u201d HHS said in the statement. <\/p>\n However, representatives for food companies say the GRAS process plays an important role in enabling companies to \u201cinnovate to meet consumer demand.\u201d <\/p>\n Related article<\/span> Toxic chemicals used in food preparation leach into human bodies, study finds<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cAs the administration looks to revise GRAS, we stand ready to work with agency experts on continued analysis of safe ingredients and increase consumer transparency,\u201d said Sarah Gallo, senior vice president of product policy and federal affairs for the Consumer Brands Association, in an email. <\/p>\n Eliminating GRAS isn\u2019t as simple as removing the regulations, said Jensen Jose, regulatory officer for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit food safety organization. <\/p>\n \u201cThere are many secret GRAS chemicals that are already in our food supply,\u201d he wrote in an email. \u201cMaking these chemicals immediately illegal until obtaining FDA approval may cause disruptions in the food supply. Ensuring that existing GRAS chemicals are safe to remain in our foods should be a systematic process.\u201d <\/p>\n In addition, not everything GRAS should be eliminated during reform, said Jennifer Pomeranz, an associate professor of public health policy and management at New York University\u2019s School of Global and Public Health in New York City. <\/p>\n \u201cThey should grandfather ingredients that were GRAS in 1958 when Congress created the food amendment, like garlic, salt and pepper, that we have eaten for decades without harm,\u201d she said. \u201cPast that, have everything go through a food additive petition to assure its safety.\u201d <\/p>\n Related article<\/span> 5 expert-approved ways to eliminate artificial sweeteners in your diet<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It\u2019s also possible that while changing the GRAS process, the food industry could pass along the cost to consumers in the form of higher prices, Califf said. <\/p>\n \u201cTo do this research costs money. That\u2019s a lot different than just declaring our stuff is safe, versus actually doing the work rigorously and having an independent government evaluation,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Teasing out the health impact of food additives over long periods of time is also difficult and time-consuming, Califf said: \u201cThese are not issues of people developing cancer in one week. It\u2019s increased risk of cancer 20 years later. <\/p>\n \u201cIt takes large-scale epidemiology, a lot of expertise and teams of people, including people who know about the chemistry and biology and the epidemiology and human disease, and it\u2019s not easy,\u201d he said. \u201cIt seems to me that beefing up the FDA budget, this would be a good deal for the American people.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy has begun the process of eliminating a US Food and Drug Administration program called GRAS, or \u201cgenerally recognized as safe,\u201d that critics say has been abused by the food industry for decades. Nearly 99% of new chemicals used in food or food packaging since 2000 were …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2108,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"loftocean_post_primary_category":0,"loftocean_post_format_gallery":"","loftocean_post_format_gallery_ids":"","loftocean_post_format_gallery_urls":"","loftocean_post_format_video_id":0,"loftocean_post_format_video_url":"","loftocean_post_format_video_type":"","loftocean_post_format_video":"","loftocean_post_format_audio_type":"","loftocean_post_format_audio_url":"","loftocean_post_format_audio_id":0,"loftocean_post_format_audio":"","loftocean-featured-post":"","loftocean-like-count":0,"loftocean-view-count":590,"tinysalt_single_post_intro_label":"","tinysalt_single_post_intro_description":"","tinysalt_hide_post_featured_image":"","tinysalt_post_featured_media_position":"","tinysalt_single_site_header_source":"","tinysalt_single_custom_site_header":"0","tinysalt_single_custom_sticky_site_header":"0","tinysalt_single_custom_sticky_site_header_style":"sticky-scroll-up","tinysalt_single_site_footer_source":"","tinysalt_single_custom_site_footer":"0","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2107\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} Many challenges ahead<\/h3>\n
What is the problem with GRAS?<\/h3>\n
Hurdles to overcome<\/h3>\n