Yahoo News 
Why nobody knows what's really going into your food
Video transcript:
In 2008, when an Australian food manufacturer wanted the US federal government’s stamp of approval on the company’s new ingredients, regulators said no. But go inside many American supermarkets and you’ll find products containing them on the shelves.
So how do new ingredients get from the lab to your dinner table?
When companies create new food additives – to improve their product’s texture, taste, appearance, or to extend their shelf life – they have two choices:
The “Food Additive Highway” is a gridlocked route marked by government potholes. Traffic here is policed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration - the federal agency that regulates 80 percent of the nation’s food supply.
Companies traveling this path must submit their food additives to extensive review. Then the FDA may issue its formal approval. This journey can take years — even decades — to complete.
So it’s no surprise that companies often take an alternative route.
This road is paved by a legal loophole that hinges on what counts as a “food additive.”
Changes to the law in the fifties created this two-lane system where anything “Generally Recognized As Safe”, or GRAS, travels down a much smoother road to market.
These “GRAS” ingredients are not considered food additives and effectively get a pass to the fast lane.
This “GRAS” clause means companies can determine on their own that what they’re adding to our food is safe.
Then it’s up to the company to inform the FDA if they want to. That’s right. Companies have no legal obligation to tell the FDA what they’re putting in our food.
But if they do decide to pull in for inspection they could get the FDA ‘OK’, which makes them more attractive to potential distributors.
But what if the FDA doesn’t like what it sees?
Take lupin – it’s a legume from same family as peanuts. It’s often used in Mediterranean cooking. It can also be ground into flour and used in gluten free food.
Related: Why the FDA doesn't really know what's in your food
There’s more to this story. Click here to read the rest at the Center for Public Integrity.
This story is part of The Misinformation Industry. Illuminating the sometimes-misleading methods used by special interest groups to gain support for their agendas. Click here to read more stories in this blog.
Related stories
Copyright 2014 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.
