RFK Jr. weighing FDA crackdown on food additives under Trump

Ultra Processed | Food Tech & the American Diet

Ultra Processed: How Food Tech Consumed the American Diet | CBS Reports 21:41

Advisers to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are weighing a important rewrite to the Food and Drug Administration's rules governing nutrient additives, to fulfill Kennedy and President-elect Donald Trump's "Make America Healthy Again" pledge to get toxic chemicals retired of the nutrient supply. 

The projected crackdown, which is inactive successful its aboriginal stages and volition request to get a sign-off from Trump and his modulation team, targets a proviso successful the FDA's regulations connected which nutrient additives are considered by the bureau to beryllium "generally recognized arsenic safe," oregon GRAS.

Advisers to Kennedy, Trump's prime for caput of the Department of Health and Human Services, person besides floated different approaches to curbing the usage of nutrient additives, including moving with cultivation producers to alteration the subsidies and incentives offered by the authorities for definite kinds of foods Kennedy argues are unhealthy. 

"I deliberation the wide posture of the FDA should beryllium really a batch of deregulation. I deliberation we should person a aureate property of innovation and cause development. Nobody's lasting successful the mode of that," Calley Means, a apical advisor to Kennedy's modulation team, said this period connected "The Liz Wheeler Show."

Means said "corrupt regulatory interpretations" had breached the regularisation of additives nether the GRAS process, saying it had go a "totally rigged system."

"But erstwhile it comes to food, erstwhile it comes to 'generally recognized arsenic safe,' implicit self-policing from this industry, allowing them to enactment chemicals successful our nutrient that are banned successful each different state and person hundreds of studies saying are harmful, determination needs to beryllium a review," Means said.

"This is simply a bananas system"

Advocacy groups and experts person agelong denounced the FDA's "loophole" successful its regularisation of these nutrient additives, which allows companies to softly determine which chemicals they deem harmless capable to adhd to their products without going done the agency's oversight. 

"This is simply a bananas system. This is not the mode that caller nutrient chemicals should beryllium approved and travel into our nutrient supply," said Melanie Benesh, vice president of authorities affairs astatine the Environmental Working Group. 

While companies with caller chemicals tin take to spell done a "voluntary" process to gain a spot connected the agency's list of substances that are "generally recognized arsenic safe," making it easier to marketplace foods with the additives, officials admit companies often bypass it. 

"It does undermine the wide credibility of the strategy erstwhile it is imaginable to get a chemic connected the marketplace without anterior reappraisal by the FDA," the agency's apical nutrient official, Jim Jones, said astatine an event hosted by the Alliance for a Stronger FDA earlier this year. 

Bill Freese, subject manager for the Center for Food Safety, cited times companies person decided to spell up and "self-certify" that their nutrient additives were safe, adjacent aft failing to gain the sign-off of the FDA's reviewers during the voluntary process.

That has strayed acold from the archetypal intent of the provision, Freese said, which was expected to narrowly "grandfather in" foods with a agelong past of harmless usage similar brackish and vinegar.

"These GRAS exemptions should beryllium limited. The FDA conscionable expanded the loophole until it conscionable virtually swallowed the full statute," helium said.

Obstacles successful Congress and the courts

Making it mandatory for companies to spell done the GRAS notification process earlier utilizing immoderate caller nutrient ingredients volition apt look hurdles.

Cracking down connected nutrient additives would dramatically broaden the FDA's workload. The bureau would person to some surface caller notifications arsenic good arsenic look backmost astatine antecedently greenlighted chemicals.

FDA officials person agelong called for Congress to measurement up backing for oversight of nutrient additives, informing that resources were stretched bladed adjacent with the existent duties. 

One thought to broaden FDA's backing — attaching fees to applications submitted by nutrient manufacturers, akin to the "user fees" programs for aesculapian products — has besides failed to summation traction connected Capitol Hill. Kennedy has besides been captious of the "user fees" attack for drugs, and has called to undo it. 

Another obstacle could travel done the courts, particularly successful airy of a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that curtailed bureau power. 

Advocacy groups mislaid a previous national lawsuit against the FDA trying to necessitate the notifications backmost successful 2021. In that case, the justice recovered that "it remains unclear nether the statute whether FDA adjacent has the authorization to marque GRAS notifications mandatory."

"I deliberation determination are surely things wrong FDA's powerfulness to constrictive the loophole, to marque it harder for companies to instrumentality vantage of the GRAS process. But determination is immoderate ineligible precedence saying that this is Congress' occupation to fix, truthful we'll conscionable person to see," said Benesh.

While Kennedy's squad acknowledges the contented whitethorn extremity up needing to beryllium hashed retired done authorities connected Capitol Hill, changing the process solely done the enforcement subdivision is connected the table, an advisor said.

Kennedy has antecedently said helium is asking Trump to "declare a nationalist emergency, but not for infectious disease, but for chronic disease" arsenic different mode to supercharge his authorities amid blowback they expect from the nutrient industry.

"This is not a monolithic, this is not an all-powerful industry. They tin beryllium disrupted. So that's what gives maine hope. The voters and President Trump's microphone are connected our side," Means said.