As the new secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has set his sights on studying and potentially reducing the presence of chemicals in the U.S. food supply.
While many consumer and environmental groups align with some of these goals, they said the Trump administration's recent cuts to the federal workforce will prevent significant progress.
In previous public remarks, Senate confirmation hearings and his first address at HHS, Kennedy made it clear that he wants to study the potential effect of food additives and glyphosate and other pesticides on chronic diseases.
“Nothing is going to be off limits,” Kennedy told the agency Tuesday.
Kennedy said the department would rely on “unbiased science” and urged listeners to depoliticize these issues in the “search for existential truth.”
While testifying in confirmation hearings, Kennedy again raised concern about the level of pesticides in U.S. agriculture and the health impact it could have on consumers and farmers. He said he was the “only person” equipped to cut through industry influence and place more limits on some food dyes and chemicals.
President Donald Trump also has established a Make America Healthy Again Commission with Kennedy at its head. Secretaries of other federal agencies, including USDA and the Environmental Protection Agency, also will sit on the panel.
The commission will study and report on a number of issues, including food ingredients and food production techniques, and how they could contribute to chronic diseases among children.
One way the MAHA movement has suggested addressing food chemicals is through reform of the “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) status for products.
Brian RonholmThe GRAS process allows the food industry to essentially self-certify safety, said Brian Ronholm, director of food policy at Consumer Reports. A company can introduce a product without presenting safety information to the FDA or without the agency reviewing safety data. Under this system, companies don’t have to notify FDA or the public, he said.
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Consumer groups would like to see reforms requiring companies to notify the FDA when they have determined a chemical is safe. Ideally, they say the agency would establish a preapproval system to review the data and make its own safety determination.
FDA would need Congress to change the law in order to fully establish a pre-market review for GRAS ingredients or change notification requirements, Ronholm said.
Peter Lurie, president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, expressed doubt that Kennedy would be able to convince enough congressional Republicans to establish a pre-market review for food ingredient approvals.
“This is a pro-regulatory move,” Lurie said. “And there’s nothing about the way that [Elon] Musk and they are approaching regulations that tells me that they’re going to be pro-regulatory too much.”
Additionally, Lurie said industry groups like the current process, making reform efforts a tough sell in Congress.
“FDA’s GRAS process plays a role in this proven system, enabling companies to innovate to meet consumer demand while also meeting FDA’s regulations and safety standards,” said Sarah Gallo, senior vice president of product policy at Consumer Brands Association. “Food manufacturers attest to the safety of an ingredient through the development of extensive scientific evidence and third-party expert review.”
Even without Congress, FDA could better enforce conflict of interest requirements for GRAS panels or a more rigorous review of GRAS notices, Ronholm said.
Lurie said CSPI believes FDA does have authority to require a listing requirement for GRAS, requiring companies to inform the agency that it put a new ingredient into the food supply.
While this does not go as far as many consumer groups would like, it would make the process more transparent, Lurie said.
Kennedy’s hopes to reform GRAS and address food chemicals could run into another issue – the shortage of people who assess and enforce rules, exacerbated by cuts in personnel.
“There’s no question that a more transparent and better GRAS process requires human beings,” Lurie said.
Ronholm said states like California have taken a more active approach to food chemicals. This has pushed the federal government to follow suit in some areas, like the Biden administration’s ban on Red-3 dye in foods and brominated vegetable oil.
State-level and consumer group pressure also pushed the administration to consider a post-market assessment process of food chemicals. Ronholm said that process does not exist now but the Biden-era FDA said it would take comments on what such a process could look like.
Ronholm said he hope
Jim Joness the new FDA commissioner establishes an effective reassessment process.
Jim Jones, the deputy commissioner of FDA’s human foods program, spearheaded much of FDA’s efforts on post-market assessment. The agency also hired people recently for this purpose.
“I was looking forward to working to pursue the department’s agenda of improving the health of Americans by reducing diet-related chronic disease and risks from chemicals in food,” Jones said in his resignation letter. However, he said the new administration's "disdain" for the people needed to make these changes demonstrated it would be "fruitless for me to continue in this role."
Following news of mass firings at the FDA over the weekend, Ronholm said many of the initial terminations affected the post-market food chemical review area where hiring has been concentrated for the last year. The administration appears to be cutting many “probationary” employees in their first or second year on the job.
"The cuts to the FDA foods program demonstrate that the Make America Healthy Again platform is a hollow one, as inadequate resources undercut its goals and objectives,” Ronholm said. “It sends a dangerous signal to consumers that they will be on their own on food safety."
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