Food Safety / Safety
Comments: No Comments
Safety Focus
Food chemical safety is an area that is becoming a growing public concern, especially with states including California, Illinois, and New York challenging the safety of certain food additives and other chemicals used in food. Is food safe to eat if it has chemicals?
Chemical Presence in Food
The truth is…all our food is made up of chemicals. Some naturally exist in whole foods and provide nutrition. For example, the potassium in bananas is a chemical. Some chemicals, like environmental contaminants, get into food when crops absorb them from soil, water, or air. Process contaminants (e.g., undesired chemical byproducts) can also form during food processing, particularly when heating, drying, or fermenting foods.
Chemicals may also be added to food for a variety of reasons:
- Create additional nutritional benefits (e.g., vitamins A and D being added to milk).
- Provide protection from pathogens that could make people sick.
- Enhance food by adding flavor, improving texture, and changing appearance.
- Preserve quality by preventing spoilage or extending shelf life.
FDA Authorization
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must authorize any chemical added to food for use as a food or color additive before it may be used, unless the substance is generally recognized as safe (GRAS). Through its pre-market review programs, FDA reviews all relevant information about the chemical before providing its authorization, including information about:
- The identity of the chemical, including its chemical structure and data on other similar substances.
- How the substance will be used, its level of use, and the amount people may be exposed to in food.
- Toxicology, safety data, and other information to show the substance is safe at calculated exposure levels.
How Much Is Too Much?
The presence of a chemical does not determine whether a food is safe to eat. Rather, it is the amount that counts.
FDA scientifically assesses the safe amount of a chemical in food by comparing how much chemical is in the food and how much someone is likely to consume daily with other safety data to determine whether a food is safe to eat. Any chemical has the potential to be harmful at a certain level, which is why this multi-pronged evaluation and extensive calculations are important.
FDA determines an Acceptable Daily Intake level for the chemical. This level has a “built-in” safety margin to ensure the allowable daily amount is actually much lower than the level known to have a possible adverse health effect.
When Food Chemicals Become Unsafe
Authorized chemicals normally used in foods as additives and preservatives can become hazardous when they are unintentionally added or are present beyond the established limits. When this happens, it can cause immediate illness and/or long-term health effects on consumers. FDA monitors the food supply for chemical contaminants and takes action when the level of a contaminant causes a food to be unsafe. Situations such as this result in food safety alerts, recalls, and withdrawals from the market.
FDA helps safeguard the food supply by evaluating the use of chemicals as food ingredients and substances that come into contact with food (e.g., packaging, storing, handling). But ultimately, food manufacturers are responsible for marketing safe foods and ensuring that they meet FDA requirements. The manufacturers are required to implement preventive controls to significantly minimize or prevent exposure to chemicals in foods that may be hazardous to human health.
More information can be found on food chemical safety at the following websites: