Sunday Edition: Is ‘Generally Recognized As Safe’ (GRAS) really safe?

Quick bites in food safety

1. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. issued a updated federal dietary guidelines Wednesday. The new guidelines encourage increased consumption of red meat, cheese and full-fat dairy products. According to The New York TimesTHE guidelines raise priorities of Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again movement.
2. Nestlé is infant formula recall in more than 50 countries worldwide due to the possible presence of the cereulide toxin, produced by certain strains of Bacillus cereus. The toxin was first discovered in a manufacturing plant in the Netherlands. No illnesses have yet been reported from the recalled formula
3. The United States Department of Agriculture estimated the cost of foodborne illness in the United States, to nearly $75 billion in 2023. Salmonella and Campylobacter are responsible for the greatest number of food-related cases and approximately $28.4 billion of the overall cost impact.
4. A report from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) released this week calls for more accountability in US food safety systems. The GAO report recommends seven steps the Food and Drug Administration can take to complete implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011.

The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) was signed into law in 1938, giving the Food and Drug Administration the authority to require proof of safety before food reaches consumers. Twenty years later, the Food Additives Amendment of 1958 listed 700 food substances exempt from the requirement that manufacturers test for food additives before foods containing them are sent to market. This is how the Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) system – a flaw according to some – was born.