Following an investigation by the Environmental Working Group, serious doubts have been raised about the integrity of the US food supply.
The group says at least 111 chemical substances with unknown safety profiles were added to foods, beverages and supplements without the US Food and Drug Administration being informed.
Under the “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) system, companies typically demonstrate that a new ingredient is safe by pointing to publicly available scientific evidence and showing that it meets regulatory expectations.
But because participation in this process is voluntary, manufacturers can effectively make their own calls about whether an ingredient is safe to use.
Vice president for governmental affairs for the aforementioned organization, Melanie Benesh, told CNN: “Food companies are deciding on their own to secretly add unreviewed chemical ingredients to products instead of following existing federal guidelines meant to assure food is ‘generally recognized as safe’.
“Manufacturers now routinely exploit this GRAS loophole — it’s fast becoming more ‘generally recognized as secret’ instead of ‘generally recognized as safe.’ Because the government has never reviewed these chemicals, consumers have no way of knowing if they are safe or carry unknown health risks”.
While the loophole may be legal, Mathilde Touvier, director of research at France’s National Institute of Health and Medical Research, said it is difficult to justify on both scientific and ethical grounds.
She elaborated: “It is highly problematic that companies are allowed to self-determine that their own ingredients are ‘GRAS,’ given the obvious financial conflict of interest. Decisions about the safety of food chemicals should be based on independent assessment by public health authorities.”
Investigators reported that close to half of the substances identified were used in food products, including 22 that were said to be extracts.
Items such as cinnamon, cocoa, aloe vera, grape skins, green coffee beans, hemp, mushrooms and lemon balm may sound familiar and “natural,” but the report suggests extracted forms can raise different questions than whole ingredients.
Biochemist and co-author of the investigation, Maricel Maffini, commented: “When you start taking substances from grape skin, aloe vera and mushrooms, for example, you may have a concentrated extract or cocktail of substances that come out of it. You should be able to test that extract or cocktail if it is going to be in the marketplace.”
The scrutiny arrives amid other recent food-service safety headlines, including an incident in Perth, Australia, where an Italian restaurant was fined $28,000 after serving two children insect repellant instead of fruit juice.