We have to eat to live and stay healthy. If you happen to be somewhere you can have a garden, you can control more of what food you eat. But if you rely on buying food at grocery stores, it’s a little harder to know what you’re getting.
Regulating Safe Food For Good Health
But the government protects us from the bad food bogeymen, right? They make all those laws and regulations that are in the latest news on health, keeping us safe.
After all, we have the USDA and FDA, and even the EPA, all agencies that in one way or another make regulations that impact the food we ingest. But even with all those regulatory agencies, that doesn’t always mean what we eat is safe.
Food Additive Regulations
Let’s take food additive regulations as an example. Back in 1958 Congress passed the “Food Additives Amendment.” It requires that new food additives be tested by manufacturers and be accepted by the FDA as having a “reasonable certainty of no harm.”
GRAS Grows
However, Congress deemed that some chemicals, such as starch and vinegar, were so obviously safe, they didn’t need to be tested. So those chemicals and others like it were declared GRAS – “Generally Recognized As Safe.”
But big companies can grow their own GRAS labels, and declare than any new chemicals they produce are “generally recognized as safe” without having to notify the FDA or consumers.
Yes, they can just say it’s safe, label it GRAS, and that’s all there is to it.
Mowing Down The GRAS
While it’s easy to declare something GRAS, it’s a whole lot harder to make companies get rid of that label. The burden of proof is on the people wanting to see what they consider a harmful additive removed from the market.
So, for an outrageous example, a company could say manure is safe and stick it in food, and the burden of proof would be on those who said it is NOT safe to put it in food. The company doesn’t have to prove it’s safe before putting it in the food in the first place. Nope, they can just slap a GRAS labeling on it, and then anyone who contends otherwise has to prove them wrong.
Seems a little backwards to me.
Nutrition Action
Center For Science In The Public Interest
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This is great info to know.