The August of 2013 issue of the journal, Internal Medicine, reviewed 451 voluntary reports from food manufacturers regarding the safety of their food additives and discovered that the reports were created by the manufacturers or their payed representatives. Of the 451 reports, 22% were made by a company employee, 13% by employees of manufacturer-hired consulting firms, and 64% by expert panels whose members were picked by either the manufacturers or the hired consulting firm. How many negative reports were filed? Right, zero! What a surprise...smile
The government accountability office (GAO) reviewed this topic and concluded that the FDA's oversight process does not help ensure the safety of all new GRAS (generally regarded as safe) determinations." They noted that once the FDA receives the reports it does its job of encouraging manufacturers of questionably safe additives to withdraw their notices. But then what happens? Any guesses? That's right...nothing!
Who is looking out for the food we are consuming?
