We eat food because we need it to live. But many foods contain additives that not only don’t provide nutrients, but also can be bad for you – and that’s perfectly legal. Food additives are used by manufacturers to do things like lengthen shelf life or provide more color or shine. Scientific studies have shown […]
By Tom Nelter The FDA is charged with regulating the safety of chemical food additives, but the “generally recognized as safe” exemption to the FDA’s approval process has been stretched beyond recognition to cover virtually all new substances, writes the Environmental Defense Fund’s Tom Neltner. Every day, another news story breaks about the contamination of communities due […]
“I put something in your child!,” says fake scientist DeVito, as he laughs, and laughs By Dennis Perkins Last Week Tonight’s John Oliver generally alternates between ruining your night by exposing issues both immediate and obvious (the looming threat from a white supremacist authoritarian cult led by a twice-impeached former reality show host and a racist fish stick heir), and […]
Tom Neltner, Chemicals Policy Director and Maricel Maffini, consultant The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has made no apparent progress to comply with the legal requirement that it consider the cumulative effect of chemicals in the diet that have similar health impacts when evaluating the safety of an additive. A year ago, on September 23, […]
By Guest Contributor on September 20, 2021 FOOD SAFETY EDUCATION MONTH OPINION By Tom Neltner, Environmental Defense Fund Chemicals Policy Director The latest annual food industry survey demonstrates that U.S. consumers continue to have significant concerns about chemicals in food. Specifically, the survey from the International Food Information Council (IFIC) found: 29 percent of consumers rated chemicals in food as their top food […]
KANSAS CITY — Food manufacturers received reassuring news when the Food and Drug Administration published the testing results of its first survey of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as “forever chemicals.” The survey showed 164 of the 167 foods tested had no detectable levels of the PFAS measured. Despite the positive news, uncertainty […]
WASHINGTON – The Environmental Working Group is urging Congressional leaders to quickly set mandatory limits on levels of toxic heavy metals in baby food, after a new House oversight panel report highlighted food companies’ failure to protect babies. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform’s Economic and Consumer Policy Subcommittee in its September 29 report details failures […]
June 11, 2021 Press Release WASHINGTON – Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D-Los Angeles) and Congresswoman Katie Porter (D-Orange County) led a letter signed by 12 Members of Congress to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) urging the Acting Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration to take action on the presence of phthalates in food and cosmetics. Phthalates are […]
By Sandee LaMotte, CNN Updated 12:23 PM ET, Wed June 9, 2021 CNN)Beech-Nut Nutrition voluntarily recalled an infant rice cereal Tuesday because the product exceeds a US Food and Drug Administration limit of 100 parts per billion of arsenic. The company also announced it would no longer sell baby rice cereal. Research has shown that even […]
WASHINGTON – The Biden administration’s budget request for the Food and Drug Administration makes toxic chemicals in food a priority. The administration proposed a $49 million increase in the FDA’s budget to address food safety, including additional funds to be used to review the safety of food chemicals and metals in baby foods. “None of […]