This year, many members of Congress have been working on bills to reform Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) protocols for food ingredients.
Over the past week, this has included Senator Roger Marshall’s Better Food Disclosure Act (The Better FDA), to modify the Food and Drug Administration’s oversight of ingredient disclosures and reviews. It would also require food companies to report to the agency the ingredients they put in their products.
Several other Congressional proposals to reform the alleged GRAS loophole include the Food Safety and Reform Act (HR4958), the Guaranteed Food Safety and Toxic-Free Act (S.2341), and the Toxic-Free Food Act (HR9817).
All this congressional interest raises the question of where the FDA stands on the issue.
In March, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asked the FDA to study rulemaking that would end companies’ ability to “self-claim” that ingredients are safe without oversight.
As part of Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) mission, he called for “radical transparency” for consumers.
But exploration is about all the FDA is doing this year as part of its GRAS reform mission. Actual commitment to rule change will not occur until at least 2026. The FDA added GRAS to its Spring 2026 schedule in mid-September.
Currently, companies self-claim the safety of the ingredients they use in foods and voluntarily share their research with the FDA, in hopes of a “no questions asked” letter from the agency confirming their GRAS status.
Under Kennedy, HHS directed the FDA to find a “pathway” to eliminate self-affirmed GRAS status for food and beverage ingredients.
The FDA’s GRAS inventory currently includes more than 1,200 substances. These items would likely all be protected by a new rule. A 2013 study by the Pew Charitable Trusts estimated that 3,000 GRAS substances have escaped FDA review,
Currently, the FDA has voluntary GRAS notices — it processes about 75 per year and issues more than 1,000 since the program began, according to HHS. Assertiveness moves many ingredients off the agency radar, with no public disclosure required.
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