Health Advocacy Groups Submit Citizen Petition on Food Additives

Several advocacy groups, including the Environmental Defense Fund, American Academy of Pediatrics, Center for Food Safety and Consumer Reports, have submitted a citizen petition urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to “define key terms essential to consider the cumulative effect of a food additive, food contact substance, generally recognized as safe substance, or color additive, taking into account any chemically- or pharmacologically-related substances in the diet, when assessing safety as required by law.” The petition asserts that “FDA and food manufacturers have not taken into account the many chemicals we consume in our daily diet that are similar in structure or affect similar function(s) of organs in the body when making safety determinations for new additives, despite the Congressional mandate and the agency’s own regulations.” The organizations argue that “one of almost 900 safety determinations conducted by food manufacturers and submitted to FDA for review as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) notifications for human food considered the requirement in a meaningful way,” and they urge FDA to “revise the agency’s food and color additive regulations and associated guidance to
ensure compliance with the requirements.”