FDA's 'hands-off approach' to additives may allow unsafe ingredients in food, experts suggest
The Food and Drug Administration’s “hands-off approach” to food additives, including those found in ultraprocessed foods and energy drinks, may allow unsafe ingredients to enter the nation’s food supply, according to the authors of an editorial published Thursday.
The Food and Drug Administration’s “hands-off approach” to food additives, including those found in ultraprocessed foods and energy drinks, may allow unsafe ingredients to enter the nation’s food supply, according to the authors of an editorial published Thursday.
The paper, in the American Journal of Public Health, comes as lawmakers and public health groups allege that the FDA has failed to take quick action to protect the public from certain additives — including brominated vegetable oil and red dye No. 3 — in food products.
In July, the FDA banned the use of brominated vegetable oil after studies had shown that it could be potentially harmful to the liver and heart, and may be linked to neurological problems. The ingredient had already been banned in the U.K., the European Union, India and Japan.
The agency has also come under scrutiny over its regulation of common ingredients such as caffeine after two people died after drinking Panera’s highly caffeinated “Charged Lemonade” drinks.
“The FDA really needs to re-evaluate our system,” said Jennifer Pomeranz, associate professor of public health policy and management at the NYU School of Global Public Health and the lead author of the new editorial. “We cannot say that our food supply is safe.”
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