The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is set to review a petition seeking to strip dozens of processed refined carbohydrates of their current safety designation, unless manufacturers can demonstrate that these ingredients are safe and do not contribute to obesity or other health concerns.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made the remarks in comments broadcast on Sunday, signaling that food companies may soon be required to provide evidence supporting the continued use of such ingredients.
He said the agency plans to act on a petition submitted last August by former FDA Commissioner David Kessler, which urges regulators to strip corn syrup and numerous other sweeteners and starches of their “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS) designation.
The request calls for removing these ingredients from the federal list that allows certain substances to be used in food without additional premarket approval.
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“We will act on David Kessler’s petition,” Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in an interview on “60 Minutes.”
“And the questions that he’s asking are questions that FDA should’ve been asking a long, long time ago.”
Kennedy, along with former FDA Commissioner David Kessler, has argued that the GRAS designation — established by Congress in 1958 — has enabled certain ingredients to enter the food supply without undergoing a comprehensive federal safety review. They contend that the framework allows companies to determine an ingredient’s safety on their own, without direct government oversight. Kennedy said he would seek White House backing to eliminate what he described as a regulatory gap.
“There is no way for any American to know if a product is safe if it is ultra processed,” Kennedy added during the interview.
Food manufacturers are already following the FDA’s science-driven, risk-based system for reviewing ingredients, according to the Consumer Brands Association, which represents major food companies.
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“The GRAS process plays an important role in enabling companies to innovate to meet consumer demand … We stand ready to work with HHS and FDA as they look to revise GRAS to continue to ensure the analysis of safe ingredients and increase consumer transparency,” the group said in a statement.
David Kessler, a pediatrician who led the FDA from 1990 to 1997, has been a long-time advocate of stronger public health regulation. While at the agency, he sought to bring tobacco products under FDA oversight — a bid that ultimately did not succeed but intensified scrutiny of the tobacco industry nationwide.
Now, he is urging regulators to apply similar pressure to major food companies.
“We changed how this country views tobacco,” Kessler said on “60 Minutes.” “We need to change how this country views these ultra processed foods.”