New York passes sweeping food chemical reform law

Assemblymembers in Albany passed the New York Food Safety and Chemical Disclosure Act (S1239/A1556) today, a landmark measure that will bring long-overdue transparency to the safety of chemicals in everyday food. Having unanimously passed the Senate last month, the bill establishes a web database of safety assessments for food chemicals used in New York, which will have national implications for disclosing safety assessments that have been held in secret by food companies since 1958.

The bill would make significant strides towards closing a loophole by which food companies can declare for themselves, behind closed doors, that a chemical is "generally recognized as safe" for use in food, or GRAS. This so-called GRAS loophole leaves both consumers and regulators in the dark with little ability to identify or address potential dangers in our food supply. The bill would require food companies to disclose the safety data for all such food chemical uses to the state's Department of Agriculture and Markets. The Department would publish this data in a publicly available database, allowing federal and state regulators and the public to understand and independently assess the safety of these food chemicals.

State GRAS reform is especially important because the federal government has yet to move to close the GRAS loophole, despite promises by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to address this critical gap in regulatory oversight. A rule purporting to narrow the loophole has been under review at the White House since December. Industry has already threatened to legally challenge any federal rule that requires the same level of transparency as this legislation, while simultaneously telling New York legislators to wait for FDA reforms.

The bill also prohibits the sale of food containing Red 3 and potassium bromate (both linked to cancer) as well as propylparaben (linked to hormone disruption and reproductive toxicity) statewide. While FDA banned Red 3 shortly after this legislation's introduction, we hope that the agency will continue to follow New York's lead in banning other dangerous chemicals and reforming GRAS.

With thousands of poorly tested chemicals now swimming in the nation's food supply, New Yorkers cannot wait for Washington policy to catch up to their daily reality. We commend State Senator Brian Kavanagh and Assemblymember Anna Kelles for leading this effort to protect the food supply and call on Governor Hochul to sign this trailblazing legislation.

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What they are saying about State GRAS reform:

"Today, in spite of an onslaught of misinformation from the food industry, we are taking a critical step toward protecting New Yorkers from having to guess what potentially harmful chemicals might be lurking in the food we eat."

-Senator Brian Kavanagh

"The GRAS concept was created in 1958 to exempt common ingredients like salt and vinegar from unnecessary review. It was never intended to allow new, synthetic chemical additives into the food supply without oversight or transparency."

-Assemblymember Dr. Anna Kelles

"New York is stepping up where Washington has slowed down. This bill, once enacted into law, will increase transparency and protect consumers from toxic chemicals in New York's food supply."

-Jessica Hernandez, Environmental Working Group's Legislative Director

Tags

• GRAS

Topics

• Government Accountability
• Food Additives