US Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F Kennedy Jr, has instructed the Food and Drug Administration to revise safety rules in order to eliminate a provision that allows companies to self-affirm the safety of their food ingredients.

This move is expected to increase transparency for consumers and enhance the FDA’s oversight of food ingredients considered to be safe, according to Kennedy.

In a statement, Kennedy stated that for too long, manufacturers and sponsors have exploited a loophole, introducing new ingredients without providing safety data to the FDA or the public.

The FDA currently encourages manufacturers to submit notices under the “substances generally recognized as safe” rule, but they can also self-affirm the use of a substance without notifying the FDA. The proposed revision aims to make it mandatory for companies to publicly notify the FDA of the intended use of new ingredients and provide underlying safety data.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/10/rfk-jr-kennedy-health-fda-trump