Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Ends FDA Loophole Allowing Big Food to Sneak Harmful Chemicals Into U.S. Food Supply

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., now serving as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services under President Trump, has announced a bold initiative to eliminate harmful chemicals from America’s food supply.

Kennedy’s announcement, made via an X post and an accompanying video, exposed the catastrophic failures of the FDA’s so-called Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) designation.

Originally intended to apply to simple ingredients like salt and baking soda, GRAS has been hijacked by corporate interests to sneak in potentially dangerous chemicals—no testing, no oversight, and no accountability.

“I am directing the FDA commissioner to start the process of changing the rules to eliminate the self-affirmed GRAS pathway for new ingredients,” said RFK Jr.

“I am also calling on the US FDA and NIH to continue to conduct and improve post-market assessments of GRAS chemicals currently in our food so we can rapidly identify the compounds that are making Americans so sick and so that American consumers and regulators can make informed decisions. This is an important step in our pursuit to Make America Healthy Again.”

In a video statement accompanying his post, Kennedy exposed how unelected bureaucrats and corporate interests have been playing fast and loose with public health, prioritizing profits over American well-being.

Kennedy laid out a shocking reality: 10,000 chemicals are currently lurking in the U.S. food supply, while Europe has banned all but 400.

Instead of requiring proof of safety before approving new food additives, the United States allows corporations to rubber-stamp their own chemicals as “safe”—no independent review necessary.

Transcript:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: “In the final months of the election, President Trump repeatedly called for removing toxins from our food supply. He added his voice to the millions of MAHA moms who were touting the Make America Healthy Again agenda.

The first step is radical transparency because, right now, not even the U.S. government knows what’s in our food. In 1958, the government created a designation called Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) so that common ingredients like salt and baking soda could be exempt from testing.

But today, it isn’t just salt and baking soda. Food companies and cooperative regulators have expanded the GRAS exemption, allowing these companies to decide for themselves whether a substance is generally recognized as safe. No FDA approval is needed.

European nations, on the other hand, require that a chemical be proven safe before it becomes a food ingredient. In our country, the GRAS standard means that every chemical is presumed safe until proven dangerous. That proof might not come until millions of Americans are suffering from chronic disease. This mass experiment on the American population with GRAS has, in short, been a catastrophe.

We now have around 10,000 chemicals in our food. Europe has only 400.

For example, titanium dioxide—potentially linked to DNA damage and cancer—is banned in the EU, but it’s in our children’s food. Potassium bromate, a suspected carcinogen, is banned in Europe and Japan. You guessed it—it’s in our children’s bread.

Food dyes such as Red Dye 40 and Yellow 5 and 6 come with warning labels in Europe. They’re linked to behavioral issues in children. But in the U.S., they are generally recognized as safe.

We can’t really blame the food companies. They’re just doing what we’ve allowed them to get away with in a system that has taken on a life of its own. We all agree now that it’s time to change the system—and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.

Today, I am directing the FDA Commissioner to start the process of changing the rules to eliminate the self-affirming GRAS pathway for new ingredients. I am also directing the FDA and NIH to ramp up post-market assessments of GRAS chemicals currently in our food so that we can rapidly identify the compounds making Americans sick and so that consumers and regulators can make informed decisions.

This issue isn’t going away. Moms aren’t going to go back to wanting chemicals in our food that are banned in other developed countries. Even the industry knows that we have to change.

So, I promise you, I am going to work with all parties—the companies, the moms, and the scientists—to make American food the healthiest in the world, just as it was when I was a child.”

WATCH:

I am directing the FDA commissioner to start the process of changing the rules to eliminate the self-affirmed GRAS pathway for new ingredients. I am also calling on the @US_FDA and @NIH continue to conduct and improve post-market assessments of GRAS chemicals currently in our… pic.twitter.com/BWvunk6lpw

— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) March 13, 2025

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