The Food and Drug Administration’s “hands-off approach” to food additives, including those found in ultraprocessed foods and energy drinks, may allow unsafe ingredients to enter the nation’s food supply, according to the authors of an editorial published Thursday.
While food manufacturers can request an FDA review of new ingredients before they are added to products — and they sometimes do — they are not required to do so.
From 1990 to 2010, an estimated 1,000 substances were labeled GRAS by manufacturers and were used without notifying the agency, Pomeranz said, citing earlier research.
Since then, she added, there have likely been many more ingredients added to the nation’s food supply without the FDA’s oversight.
“We have no idea how many substances are in the food supply based on this self-GRAS mechanism,” Pomeranz said.
Persons:
”, Jennifer Pomeranz, “, Pomeranz, ” Pomeranz, Xaq, ” Frohlich, Richard Mattes, ” Mattes, “ It’s
Organizations:
American, of Public Health, FDA, European Union, NYU School of Global Public Health, Auburn University, Purdue University
Locations:
India, Japan, GRAS, Alabama, Indiana