In 2010, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that FDA does not provide adequate oversight in monitoring processors that make food additives and label them as generally recognized as safe (GRAS). According to an article published by the JAMA Internal Medicine, conflicts of interest are rampant with food additive company employees, paid consultants or professional experts having the power to conclude their chemicals are GRAS and can be safely added to food. The article, “Conflicts of Interest in Approvals of Additives to Food Determined to be Generally Recognized as Safe: Out of Balance,” is co-authored by researchers from The Pew Charitable Trusts.
According to the report, the term, food additive (e.g., spices, colors, preservatives and other chemicals), has a specific legal meaning: It is defined as a substance whose use “results or may reasonably be expected to result, directly or indirectly, in its becoming” part of food or affecting the characteristic of food. Congress excluded from the legal definition those additives whose use is designated GRAS.