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Close the Loophole That Lets Frankenfoods Escape Safety Testing

The Food & Drug Administration has proposed a rule that would require food companies to give them notice when they intend to avoid safety testing a new ingredient by moving it through a loophole the FDA created known as “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS).

Every year about 75 new ingredients never eaten before end up in our food through the GRAS loophole. These ingredients, made with petrochemicals, genetic engineering, nanotechnology, synthetic biology, lab-grown cells, or modified microbes, are never safety tested as required by the 1958 Food Additives Amendment.

The proposed rule is a huge disappointment. The hope was that the FDA would close the GRAS loophole, not just make its use more transparent.

Really closing the loophole would mean the FDA has to sign off on a new ingredient, under the safety review the 1958 Food Additives Amendment requires, before it reaches your plate, not just receive a notice that a company plans to sell it. It would mean an independent safety review. And it would mean the safety data is made public, so people can find out what's actually in their food.

TAKE ACTION BEFORE DECEMBER 9: Tell the FDA to Close the Loophole That Lets Frankenfoods Escape Safety Testing!

Sign the Petition

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PETITION TO THE FDA:

The Food & Drug Administration should close the “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS) loophole and start enforcing the 1958 Food Additives Amendment as Congress intended.
Consumers have every reason to be concerned about the more than 1,000 novel ingredients that have been slipped into our food through GRAS. None have gone through the premarket testing and review that food additives are supposed to have.

Every year, about 75 more ingredients go through the GRAS loophole. They can be made with petrochemicals, genetic engineering, nanotechnology, synthetic biology, lab-grown cells, or modified microbes. It’s all GRAS to the FDA!

No matter how novel, the FDA never requires ingredients to be considered food additives under the law. Companies get to choose for themselves which path to take, so it's no surprise that since 2000, 863 GRAS notices have been filed but only 10 food additive petitions.

It’s great that the FDA’s promising greater transparency (the proposed rule has so many exceptions, it might not fully deliver), but it's the lack of regulation that’s really the problem.

Please start regulating all new food ingredients as food additives under the law. Currently, the only way to avoid untested ingredients is to eat organic, but everyone who eats deserves the same assurance of food safety.

Thank you.

Appetite for a Change