Prepared foods and beverages rely on a range of ingredients that enhance quality parameters such as nutrition, appearance and aroma. Recent changes in the FDA's approval process for such new functional ingredients means product formulators and marketers have increased options in the products they develop.
The GRAS status of a compound could be established either through submission of a GRAS petition to the FDA or through a GRAS self-determination, which was not formally submitted to FDA. When the FDA approved a GRAS petition, the ingredient was listed in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). When a company made a GRAS self-determination for an ingredient, it retained all the documentation, making it available, as needed, for marketing or regulatory purposes.