RFK Jr. Mandates FDA Notice for GRAS Food Chemicals, Closing a 1958 Loophole
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Aug 10
RFK Jr. Mandates FDA Notice for GRAS Food Chemicals, Closing a 1958 Loophole
3 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Aug 10
Summary
Food companies would have to notify the FDA when they self-certify ingredients as “generally recognized as safe,” under a proposed rule Kennedy is unveiling Monday after decades of voluntary disclosure.
The change targets a system that officials say has let hundreds of substances enter the food supply with limited oversight; acting FDA Commissioner Kyle Diamantas said GRAS has become the main pathway for new ingredients.
45 days is the FDA’s target to check submissions for completeness, followed by a 180-day substantive review, though companies could still market the substances during that process and the agency would not formally pre-approve them.
At least 130 people were hospitalized in one cited case involving tara flour, underscoring safety concerns that food advocates have raised as Kennedy makes food regulation a centerpiece of his Make America Healthy Again agenda.
The proposal, cleared by the White House budget office on July 31 for public comment, may still face industry resistance from companies that want Congress—not regulation—to rewrite the GRAS framework and fund added FDA work.