Washington DC - President Donald Trump's administration on Monday proposed a rule that would require food companies to inform government regulators when they add new ingredients to products.
"Parents should not need a chemistry degree to understand what children are eating. Americans deserve real transparency. They deserve real food," Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said while unveiling the proposed measure, which will be subject to public comment.
For many years, food and beverage companies could introduce new ingredients without Food and Drug Administration review, thanks to a rule known as "GRAS" or "generally recognized as safe."
The rule had been intended to allow bypassing review for common ingredients such as flour or baking soda, but food safety experts have said it also created a decades-old loophole that allows thousands of substances – including thickeners, stabilizers, and flavorings – to enter the US food supply with little oversight or safety assurances.
Food manufacturers have pushed against efforts at GRAS reform, along with Kennedy's efforts to craft a finalized federal definition of ultra-processed foods.
The proposed rule – which is so far light on details and without a timeline – is sure to delight the Make America Healthy Again movement, which Kennedy personally thanked.
"Thank you to the MAHA movement and to the millions of Americans across the political spectrum who believe that their children deserve to eat real food," Kennedy said.
MAHA is best known for championing Kennedy's policies on rolling back vaccine recommendations, overturning the traditional food pyramid, and successfully pushing for the reduced use of synthetic food dyes.