Hi all,
Several colleagues have indicated an interest in learning more about how the FDA determines what a safe use of an ingredient is in food, i.e., how they determine if an additive is “generally recognized as safe” or GRAS.
Please join us for a webinar on GRAS, “More Loophole than Law: Federal Oversight of Food Ingredient Safety,” on Monday, May 16, from 1-2pm ET
by Laura MacCleery, CSPI’s Director of Regulatory Affairs, who will cover background on GRAS and how GRAS is used by companies to secretly slip ingredients into our food, and how the process could be used to improve the safety of the food supply. We also
hope to hear about other organizations’ priorities around food additives and GRAS.
Many food and chemical companies determine that an ingredient in food (including the amount used) is GRAS and then put it into food products without telling the FDA or the public. In addition, many ingredients deemed GRAS are not reassessed
for safety at current exposures, such as salt and added sugar. As a consequence, the FDA cannot protect the public’s health from dietary exposures linked to diet-related diseases, including obesity, hypertension, kidney disease, and cancer. For example,
recently, after a decade of effort, the FDA declared that trans fat was no longer GRAS.
Last year, a number of consumer organizations told FDA that the current regulatory scheme of GRAS is unlawful. The FDA is currently developing a final rule on GRAS, due by August 2016, that will determine its oversight of food ingredient
safety.
To join the webinar, click
here or let me know if you have any questions or would like more information.
Thanks,
Colin Schwartz
Senior Nutrition Policy Associate
Center for Science in the Public Interest
1220 L Street, NW, Suite 300
Washington, D.C. 20005
202-777-8387
www.cspinet.org/nutritionpolicy