Pew researchers believe that about a thousand food additives are currently in the food supply without the FDA’s knowledge.
August 21/Minneapolis/Pew Trust -- For decades, the food industry has been selecting its own experts to determine whether food additives -- substances used to preserve a food or to enhance its taste or appearance -- are safe, according to a report published earlier this month by researchers for the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Using conflict-of-interest criteria developed by the Institute of Medicine, the researchers analyzed 451 "generally recognized as safe," or GRAS, determinations that the food industry submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) between 1997 and 2012.