RFK Jr. seeks to tighten loophole allowing chemicals in US food supply
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The announcement indicates where Kennedy's agenda on food could go first. But the process of issuing new rules is lengthy, often taking years to propose and then finalize, and no timeline for agency action was given.
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A potential change would probably require companies to notify the FDA - and submit safety data to the agency - when they want to add new ingredients to their food products, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. But more details were not immediately available, and it is unclear whether the agency will seek to review the information before the chemicals are introduced into the U.S. food supply.
Since 1958, the FDA has been charged with evaluating the safety of new chemicals and substances in food before consumers can buy the products. But an exception was made for substances generally deemed safe (such as vinegar and spices), and companies have been allowed to make their own determinations, which food safety advocates say has expanded to a variety of other ingredients. Some foods that came onto the market through the GRAS loophole have later raised safety concerns, such as tara flour used in a leek-and-lentil crumble.
'It is the lowest of low-hanging fruit,' Scott Faber, a senior vice president of the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, said of the announcement. 'But to be fair, this small step is one that no administration has previously taken.'
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The idea won praise from some food safety advocates and even President Joe Biden's FDA commissioner, underscoring how some of the ideas Kennedy is pushing to change the country's food supply have found public support on both the right and the left. Though some, such as Faber, cautioned that HHS appeared to be simply announcing a 'plan to plan.'
'It's certainly a promising development,' said Peter Lurie, president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit that warns about the drawbacks of food dye and opposed Kennedy's nomination to lead HHS. Lurie was also a former top FDA official in the Obama administration.
During Kennedy's confirmation hearings, some Democrats publicly acknowledged they aligned with him on the need to change how Americans eat. But they fiercely opposed putting Kennedy - the founder of a prominent anti-vaccine group - at the helm of HHS, expressing worries about his history of repeatedly disparaging vaccines and falsely linking vaccines to autism, despite overwhelming scientific evidence contradicting his claims. Kennedy has said he is not 'anti-vaccine.'
Monday's announcement to potentially tighten a long-standing food regulation comes the same day as Kennedy - who has claimed food makers have been allowed to 'mass poison' American children - met with company executives, including officials from Tyson Foods, General Mills and Kraft Heinz. The Consumer Brands Association, a food industry trade group, called the conversation 'constructive.'
The food industry toed a cautious line on a potential rule to require notification of ingredients introduced into the U.S. food supply.
The GRAS 'process plays an important role in enabling companies to innovate to meet consumer demand,' Sarah Gallo, a senior vice president at the CBA, said in a statement. 'As the administration looks to revise GRAS, we stand ready to work with agency experts on continued analysis of safe ingredients and increase consumer transparency.'
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Food safety advocates have said it takes far too long for the FDA to reassess chemicals in food. In response, agency officials completed a reorganization of the foods program last year, including an office dedicated to reviewing chemicals found in food. Some probationary workers charged with regulating the nation's food supply were terminated and then had their jobs reinstated amid President Donald Trump's efforts to shrink the federal government.
Last year, Robert M. Califf, who served as Biden's FDA commissioner, pleaded with Congress for more money for the agency to conduct food chemical safety.
Kennedy's proposal 'would be really good, but it would mean that the FDA would have to staff up to assess the data that would determine whether an ingredient is safe,' Califf wrote in a text message. 'I'm 100% in favor but the budget impact would be significant.'
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