RFK Jr. seeks to eliminate FDA’s GRAS 'loophole' to improve food ingredient safety
FILE-Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks after being sworn in as Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Oval Office at the White House on February 13, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is working towards eliminating the Food and Drug Administration’s program called GRAS, known as "generally recognized as safe."
"For 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," Kennedy said Monday in a statement in an HHS release.
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"Eliminating this loophole will provide transparency to consumers, help get our nation’s food supply back on track by ensuring that ingredients being introduced into foods are safe and ultimately Make America Healthy Again."
What would eliminating GRAS mean?
Dig deeper:
The elimination of GRAS would call for companies to publicly notify the Food and Drug Administration when they introduce new ingredients into the food supply, along with safety data.
Right now, the FDA urges food suppliers to provide a notice under a rule called Substances Generally Recognized as Safe, but the manufacturers have the choice to self-affirm the use of an ingredient without notifying the agency.
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Acting FDA Commissioner Sara Brenner said in an HHS release that the agency if committed further making the food supply safe with an appropriate review of ingredients and substances that "come in contact with food."
What is GRAS?
The backstory:
GRAS or "generally recognized as safe" was created in 1958 under the Food Additives Amendment to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
GRAS was applied to safe, commonly used ingredients in food. But in 1997, the Food and Drug Administration made the program voluntary, granting the food industry to claim an ingredient was GRAS without providing safety data to the FDA.
Over the years, opponents of GRAS assert that food manufacturers have presented untested ingredients in the food supply, which were considered harmful, CNN reported.
The Source: Information for this story was provided by a Health and Human Services release, the Washington Post, and CNN. This story was reported from Washington, D.C.