HHS Plans to Close FDA Loophole that Allows Food Companies to “Self-Affirm” Safety of Ingredients

On Mar. 10, 2025, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ordered the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to revise a long-exploited loophole that allows food companies to “self-affirm” that their ingredients are safe.1 2 The FDA’s Generally Recognized as Safe, or GRAS, food designation was created by Congress in […]
FDA Proposes Banning Food Additive BVO
Following California’s lead, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed to ban the food additive brominated vegetable oil (BVO). Toxicology studies conducted in collaboration with the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) led to the FDA concluding that BVO is “no longer safe” due largely in part to its ability to harm thyroid […]