FDA’s Plan to Evaluate Chemicals in Food Seen as Lacking Details

The FDA’s new plan to modernize its post-market review of food chemicals, which includes “focus” and “comprehensive” assessments, has been criticized for lacking details on implementation, transparency, and prioritization. Partner Brian Sylvester said “the industry generally supports the effort, but the FDA needs to maintain transparency, make clear which type of assessment is being applied, and provide status updates on the agency’s progress in assessing the ingredient.” He goes on to say “To the extent a particular substance is given visibility as part of FDA’s post-market assessment, there’s a potential for it to be misunderstood by the public as signaling an adverse safety determination which could inadvertently and prematurely stigmatize an otherwise safe ingredient”.