FDA Loophole Allows Unlabeled and Possibly Dangerous Chemicals in Food

theepochtimes.com

Since 1958, the FDA has allowed ingredients in foods without requiring a lengthy approval process for them. Food companies and their suppliers have never had to prove, for example, that vinegar, vegetable oil, or sugar are safe; they are allowed in food under the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) program.

Since the late 1990s, however, the GRAS program has become a dangerous “honor system” in which food makers can simply declare their additives and chemicals safe and put them in the food supply, neither petitioning the FDA for a GRAS designation nor informing the FDA the additives are being used. In the 1950s, there were only a few hundred GRAS ingredients; now there are thousands, and neither consumers nor the FDA know to which foods they are added because they are unlabeled.

A recent exposé by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) about GRAS—that refers to the program as “Generally Recognized as Secret”—reveals a don’t ask/don’t tell system in which as many as 1,000 additives have been self-declared “safe” by the companies that make them but not by the FDA.

In many cases, neither the FDA nor consumers know the ingredients that are in the food. In other cases, ingredients the FDA has specifically rejected as GRAS still appear in food—sometimes, ironically on the label.

And it gets worse. Many of the companies making the additives are headquartered overseas, like the China-based Hanzhong TRG Biotech which makes at least 40 of the chemicals NRDC says have undisclosed GRAS safety determinations.

In 2007, tainted pet food from China killed many U.S. dogs and cats; and in 2010, Whole Foods was found to be selling foods from China as “organic” (including its “California blend” vegetables) when no such designation is even possible.