A handful of health and food safety NGOs have come together to file a lawsuit claiming that regulators are letting potentially dangerous chemicals slip into American foods.
The group — including the Center for Food Safety, Breast Cancer Prevention Partners and the Environmental Defense Fund — claim that the Food and Drug Administration is allowing chemical and food manufacturers to decide which additives are safe by using a loophole in a rule finalized last year.
According to the suit, manufacturers are taking advantage of the FDA’s “generally recognized as safe” exception, or “GRAS.” This exemption was designed to target ingredients commonly used in food, such as different oils and vinegar. If a substance meets the criteria of GRAS, it doesn’t require FDA approval.
The group says the industry has stretched the exemption and is using it for chemicals that may require more scrutiny.
The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court in the southern district of New York. The group has asked that the court deem the rule “unlawful,” and vacate the rule so that it can be re-promulgated by the FDA.
The FDA has countered that it is unable to require companies to submit GRAS notices under the current provisions of the rule.
The voluntary nature of the regulation was successfully challenged in 2014 when it was a part of an interim rule.
