GRAS
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wrote on 23 Mar 2025, 13:31 last edited by
Generally Recognized As Safe. I don’t know all the details here but I’m generally in favor of eliminating many of them.
HHS Secretary RFK Jr just announced the FDA is ELIMINATING the exemption that allows harmful chemicals to be in our food.
"Hi, I'm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. I'm the Secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services. In the final months of the election, President Trump repeatedly called for removing toxins from our food supply. He added his voice to the millions of mommies who were touting the "Make America Healthy Again" agenda. The first step is radical transparency because right now, not even the U.S. government knows what's in our food.
In 1958, the government created a designation called "Generally Recognized as Safe," or GRAS, so that we could make common ingredients like salt and baking soda exempt from testing. Today, it isn't just salt and baking soda. Food companies and cooperative regulators have enlarged the GRAS exemption so that these companies can decide for themselves whether a substance is generally recognized as safe. No FDA approval is needed.
European nations, on the other hand, require that a chemical be proven safe before it becomes a food ingredient. In our country, the GRAS standard means that every chemical is presumed safe until proven dangerous—and that proof might not happen until millions of Americans are sick with chronic disease. This mass experiment on the American population with GRAS has, in short, been a catastrophe.
We now have around 10,000 chemicals in our food; Europe has only 400. For example, titanium dioxide, potentially linked to DNA damage and cancer, is banned in the EU, but it's in our children's food. Potassium bromate, a suspected carcinogen banned in Europe and Japan—and you guessed it—it's in our children's bread. Food dyes such as Red Dye 40 and Yellow 5 and 6 come with warning labels in Europe; they're linked to behavioral issues in children, but in the U.S., they're generally recognized as safe.
I can't really blame the food companies. They're just doing what we've allowed them to get away with in a system that's taken on a life of its own. We all agree now that it's time to change the system, and that’s exactly what we're going to do.
I am today directing the FDA commissioner to start the process of changing the rules to eliminate the self-affirming GRAS pathway for new ingredients. I'm also directing the FDA and NIH to ramp up post-market assessments of GRAS chemicals currently in our food so that we can rapidly identify the compounds that are making Americans so sick and so that American consumers and regulators can make informed decisions.
This issue isn't going away. Moms aren't going to return to wanting chemicals in our food that are banned in other developed countries. Even industry knows that we have to change. So I promise you, I'm going to work with all parties: the companies, the moms, the scientists, the consumer advocates—to make American food the healthiest in the world, the way that it was when I was a child.""
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wrote on 23 Mar 2025, 13:38 last edited by Jolly
Hot damn and hallelujah!
And that's why Bobby Kennedy needs to be where he's at, at least for awhile.
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Generally Recognized As Safe. I don’t know all the details here but I’m generally in favor of eliminating many of them.
HHS Secretary RFK Jr just announced the FDA is ELIMINATING the exemption that allows harmful chemicals to be in our food.
"Hi, I'm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. I'm the Secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services. In the final months of the election, President Trump repeatedly called for removing toxins from our food supply. He added his voice to the millions of mommies who were touting the "Make America Healthy Again" agenda. The first step is radical transparency because right now, not even the U.S. government knows what's in our food.
In 1958, the government created a designation called "Generally Recognized as Safe," or GRAS, so that we could make common ingredients like salt and baking soda exempt from testing. Today, it isn't just salt and baking soda. Food companies and cooperative regulators have enlarged the GRAS exemption so that these companies can decide for themselves whether a substance is generally recognized as safe. No FDA approval is needed.
European nations, on the other hand, require that a chemical be proven safe before it becomes a food ingredient. In our country, the GRAS standard means that every chemical is presumed safe until proven dangerous—and that proof might not happen until millions of Americans are sick with chronic disease. This mass experiment on the American population with GRAS has, in short, been a catastrophe.
We now have around 10,000 chemicals in our food; Europe has only 400. For example, titanium dioxide, potentially linked to DNA damage and cancer, is banned in the EU, but it's in our children's food. Potassium bromate, a suspected carcinogen banned in Europe and Japan—and you guessed it—it's in our children's bread. Food dyes such as Red Dye 40 and Yellow 5 and 6 come with warning labels in Europe; they're linked to behavioral issues in children, but in the U.S., they're generally recognized as safe.
I can't really blame the food companies. They're just doing what we've allowed them to get away with in a system that's taken on a life of its own. We all agree now that it's time to change the system, and that’s exactly what we're going to do.
I am today directing the FDA commissioner to start the process of changing the rules to eliminate the self-affirming GRAS pathway for new ingredients. I'm also directing the FDA and NIH to ramp up post-market assessments of GRAS chemicals currently in our food so that we can rapidly identify the compounds that are making Americans so sick and so that American consumers and regulators can make informed decisions.
This issue isn't going away. Moms aren't going to return to wanting chemicals in our food that are banned in other developed countries. Even industry knows that we have to change. So I promise you, I'm going to work with all parties: the companies, the moms, the scientists, the consumer advocates—to make American food the healthiest in the world, the way that it was when I was a child.""
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wrote on 23 Mar 2025, 16:39 last edited by
I can't say I'm unhappy about this - good for RFK.
I wonder if they're going to ban packing of meat with Carbon Monoxide. It might be a surprise to many Americans how brown the meat is going to look without it.
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wrote on 23 Mar 2025, 16:48 last edited by
Can always wipe it down with vinegar...Old butcher's trick...
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wrote on 24 Mar 2025, 00:32 last edited by
The article @mik talks about - the policy seems like a good idea.
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wrote on 24 Mar 2025, 01:29 last edited by
Question-begging. As if we’ll get rid of a food dye and everyone will be healthy again.
I'm also directing the FDA and NIH to ramp up post-market assessments of GRAS chemicals currently in our food so that we can rapidly identify the compounds that are making Americans so sick
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wrote on 24 Mar 2025, 01:33 last edited by
Might be an unsupported assumption.
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Question-begging. As if we’ll get rid of a food dye and everyone will be healthy again.
I'm also directing the FDA and NIH to ramp up post-market assessments of GRAS chemicals currently in our food so that we can rapidly identify the compounds that are making Americans so sick
wrote on 24 Mar 2025, 01:39 last edited by Doctor PhibesQuestion-begging. As if we’ll get rid of a food dye and everyone will be healthy again.
I'm also directing the FDA and NIH to ramp up post-market assessments of GRAS chemicals currently in our food so that we can rapidly identify the compounds that are making Americans so sick
Yeah, he's still a twat. Still, the change in policy should be a good thing.
I'd humbly suggest that it's quantity more than quality that is making Americans so sick.
It's funny - when we first moved to Canada, I literally couldn't finish the meals served in restaurants due to how much they gave me. Sadly, no longer a problem. I'm also about 35 pounds heavier.
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wrote on 24 Mar 2025, 01:49 last edited by jon-nyc
Besides we pretty much know what the compounds are - sugar, ethanol, and other refined carbohydrates.
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wrote on 24 Mar 2025, 02:29 last edited by
So ... you folks want more government regulations?
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wrote on 24 Mar 2025, 02:38 last edited by
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wrote on 24 Mar 2025, 03:35 last edited by
Right church, wrong pew.