Pallone Unveils Food Safety Bill as Kids Prepare to Head Back to School

As kids head back to school, parents expect the food they put in their lunch boxes or that they get from the cafeteria and vending machines to be safe, but a loophole in federal law allows food additives into the food we eat without sufficient oversight. Congressman Pallone is introducing legislation to fix this and bring transparency back to the lunchroom and grocery store shelves. 

Pallone made the announcement at a Rutgers University roundtable titled “What’s in Their Lunch? Closing the Food Ingredient Loophole to Protect Kids.” The event brought together scientists, consumer advocates, and nutrition experts from the Environmental Working Group, Consumer Reports, and Rutgers University to discuss how the lack of oversight puts children’s health at risk, particularly in foods sold in school cafeterias and vending machines.

“With kids across the country heading back to school, parents shouldn’t have to worry that the food in their lunch boxes or in their cafeterias contains chemicals that were never reviewed for safety. Parents deserve to know the food they’re buying for their families is safe,” Pallone said. “Unfortunately, a law that is more than fifty years old is being used as a loophole by companies to evade scrutiny of the chemicals they’re putting in our food. That’s not how food safety should work, especially when it comes to products our kids eat every day. The Grocery Reform and Safety Act will close that loophole and require manufacturers to ensure the ingredients they put in our food are safe for families and Americans across the country.”

H.R.4958, the Grocery Reform And Safety Act (GRAS Act) would change a law that has been on the books since 1958 that allows food companies to self-certify common ingredients as “generally recognized as safe,” or GRAS. The designation was originally intended to provide a pathway to market a narrow set of commonplace, safe ingredients, like water, salt, and baking soda. However, in the decades since the category was created, it has been exploited as a loophole to bypass food safety review and introduce chemicals into food products. This leaves the American public and federal regulators in the dark as to what is in our food.

Pallone’s legislation would close the GRAS loophole, require companies to notify FDA prior to use of substances as GRAS and provide scientific evidence of safety, reassess the safety of certain ingredients such as color additives, and authorize FDA to collect user fees from food manufacturers to ensure the agency has the resources it needs to fulfill its food safety mission.

“No one has done more to make our food safe than Congressman Pallone,” said Scott Faber, Senior Vice President for Government Affairs for the Environmental Working Group. “His new legislation to ensure the safety of food chemicals builds on his remarkable consumer protection record. EWG is grateful that Congressman Pallone is once again putting our health and safety first. No one should have to worry about toxic chemicals in the food we serve to our families.”

“It feels particularly appropriate to have this discussion here at Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, where the vision that drives our teaching, research, and outreach is to build a healthy and sustainable future that balances the wellbeing of all living organisms with the health of the Earth. Assuring that our food is healthy and safe is central to what we do,” said Dr. Laura Lawson, Executive Dean of Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences and Executive Director of the NJ Agricultural Experiment Station.

 "When a new additive is introduced into foods, consumers have an expectation that the FDA has determined it to be safe," said Brian Ronholm, Director of Food Policy for Consumer Reports. "Unfortunately, that's not always the case and it demonstrates how broken our food regulatory system is when food chemical companies are essentially allowed to self-regulate and determine what is safe. The GRAS Act would close this dangerous loophole and provide more transparency so consumers have a better understanding of what's in their food. We commend Rep. Pallone for his work on this bill and his continued leadership on this issue."

"Making GRAS determinations supported by publicly available data ensures that decisions are grounded in sound science. As a microbial risk assessor, I value processes are based on sound scientific evidence,” Professor Don Schaffner, Chair, Department of Food Science, Rutgers University.

"Food is a leading source of exposure to numerous chemicals that can harm our health including forever chemicals, phthalates, pesticides, and more,” said Dr. Emily Barrett, Professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Rutgers University. “For too long, the burden has been on consumers to navigate these confusing dietary exposures- it is time to enact policies that can protect everyone's health by keeping harmful chemicals out of our food."

“As a mom and teacher, I was shocked to learn that new chemicals can be added to our food without being reviewed for safety by experts we all trust,” said Manisha Chawla, a New Jersey-based food blogger and advocate. “I was also shocked to learn that the people charged with protecting us do not review the chemicals we’re already eating to make sure they are safe. No wonder we are eating thousands of food chemicals that are not allowed in the same foods that eaten in Europe. Moms like me should not have to worry about the safety of the food we serve our families. The safety of our food should not be partisan or even political.”

Legislative text of The Grocery Reform And Safety Act is available HERE. 

A section-by-section of the bill text is available HERE.

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