GRAS Oversight and Transparency Act

Key Points

• This bill, introduced by Representative Lawler, creates a new federal board to re-examine food ingredients that companies labeled as 'Generally Recognized As Safe' before the year 2000. Many of these substances were added to food based on the companies' own safety conclusions rather than a formal government review.
• Food manufacturers would be required to give the government a full list of these older ingredients within 90 days. Companies that fail to report their ingredients could face expensive fines or be forced to stop using those substances in their products immediately.
• The new board will rank ingredients into three groups based on priority, looking at the most potentially risky substances first. They are required to finish the first round of safety reviews within two years and complete all reviews within ten years.
• If the board finds that an ingredient has not been proven safe, the government can revoke its 'safe' status. Manufacturers would then have 180 days to provide new scientific evidence to prove the ingredient is safe before the government requires them to stop using it and recall products from store shelves.
• This policy aims to close a loophole that has allowed thousands of substances to remain in the food supply for decades without modern safety testing. It ensures that older additives meet the same scientific standards as new ones being introduced today.