The real issue here is that the FDA commissioner, as we sit here today, does not know what’s in our food. Most Americans, most moms would assume that the ingredients in our food have been subjected to safety studies. That is not true.
Food Industry Legal Loophole
For the past 40 years, the food industry has taken advantage of a loophole where they can generally recognize a food is safe grass. 95% of food ingredients now in our food supply have been self-identified as safe with no safety studies. Once you designate that loophole, you do not have to submit the ingredient or safety studies to the FDA. That loophole use has led to the FDA not knowing what’s in our food. It could be 2,000 ingredients. It could be 10,000. We don’t know. There is not safety studies in our food.
Food Ingredients to be Teasted
So what this does today is it mandates that the food industry for new ingredients, radical concept, needs to notify the FDA, and the FDA will now be able to conduct safety studies on that food. Additionally, for the ingredients in our food supply, and we have 10,000 more ingredients than Europe in our food food supply, those ingredients are going to be subjected to post-market review. So this is a massive seismic food regulatory reform.
Most Food Ingredients Never Tested for Safety
95% of food ingredients are voluntarily designated as grass by the food industry, and they bypass all safety studies. When this grass rule was made in the 1950s, it says in the regulation that this is for things like salt and flour, things that we all regard as safe. Now you have things like titanium dioxide, the food dyes. Those are ingredients. These neurotoxic chemicals that are banned in every other country based on resounding science, they were designated as grass. They were not subjected to safety studies. That’s changing today.
The Washington Post – The FDA rarely inspects much of the produce Americans eat
