Last month, FDA and the Grocery Manufacturers Association ("GMA") separately announced new initiatives aimed at improving industry and governmental safety assessments of food and other regulated products—all at a time when the food additive market is experiencing significant growth.
According to its press release, GMA plans to develop a private database to collect and analyze information on food additives and scientific findings commonly used by food companies in "generally recognized as safe" ("GRAS") determinations. Although the project may take several years to complete, GMA will grant access to FDA as an effort to enhance the agency's information on ingredients and promote national standards on additive safety.
Separately, but in a related action, FDA announced the results of an internal review assessing the agency's approach to evaluating harmful chemical effects in various regulated products. Initiated in 2012 by the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and the Center for Veterinary Medicine, the review focused on FDA's policies and practices for assessing chemical safety in food, dietary supplements, cosmetics, and animal feed. Based on the findings, FDA plans to update the Toxicological Principles for the Safety Assessment of Food Ingredients (or "Redbook") and promote more consistent methodologies within and among the Centers. The agency will conduct similar reviews of its nutrition and microbiological laboratory programs.
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