"Safe" Food Additives In The U.S. Often Not Tested By FDA: Washington Post

President-elect Robert F. Kennedy Jr., appointed by Donald Trump to lead the nation’s health agenda, has pledged to "get the chemicals out" of America’s food amidst growing concerns over food additives' health effects, reported Anahad O’Connor for the Washington Post.

Kennedy aims to reform federal food regulations under his “Make America Healthy Again” initiative. I Illustration: DonkeyHotey Flickr

In many cases, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not evaluate whether chemical additives are safe for food consumption. Instead, companies manufacturing and selling products containing these additives often decide their safety.

A regulatory loophole has resulted in widespread use of largely unapproved additives in U.S. food, with serious health implications.

One recent example involved tara flour, a toxic food additive allowed into the food supply through this loophole, which sickened hundreds and hospitalized at least 130 people two years ago.

Kennedy aims to reform federal food regulations under his “Make America Healthy Again” initiative. Several states, including New York and Illinois, are considering stricter rules on additives.

“The average consumer would assume that new preservatives, ingredients, and flavors in food are fully vetted by the FDA before hitting supermarket shelves,” said Pieter Cohen, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and co-author of a recent report in the New England Journal of Medicine.

“But that assumption is false.”

The issue arises from exemptions for food additives deemed “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS).

While originally intended for common, historically safe ingredients like baking soda or vinegar, the GRAS designation now allows companies to bypass the FDA’s premarket approval process, creating significant risks for consumers.