Todd Harrison recently spoke with the New York Times about the growing debate around the GRAS rule and its impact on food regulation. The following is an excerpt:
The “generally recognized as safe” designation, or GRAS, allows companies to bypass government notification and review. It has ushered an unknown number of substances, believed to be in the thousands, into the U.S. food supply. The GRAS provision was envisioned in 1958 to apply to well-understood ingredients such as vinegar and baking soda.
Though advocates of more thorough food oversight and their allies on the political left have long pushed for such a change, Mr. Kennedy and his team have been able to garner widespread support for food reform and have the power to implement it. Their actions are beginning to push past the industry’s comfort zone.
Lawyers for several food companies and industry groups said that mandating notices, which can exceed 100 pages in length, for all new ingredients are too much to ask. They contend that the Food and Drug Administration moves too slowly and would hamper the innovation that people expect from their food and drinks.
“If F.D.A. would come in and say, You have to file it with us — it’s not what the law says,” said Todd A. Harrison, a lawyer in Washington who represents food and dietary supplement makers for the firm Venable. He added that if the industry sued over such a requirement, “I think F.D.A. loses that case.”
The resistance from companies is emerging as the work of formulating a policy is in full swing, with Mr. Kennedy’s team pivoting from brokering handshake deals to the tedious work of governing.
For the full article, click here.