Food Additive Safety Laws

• 1500 BC - Egyptians used food colors
  
• 300 BC - Laws prohibited adulteration of grains and salt
  
• 1906 - United States Federal Food and Drug Act (Pure Food Law)
  

  Prohibited the sale of adulterated food and drugs in interstate commerce.

• 1938 - Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act
  

  Revised to account for changes in medical science and food technology. Described criteria for adulteration, mislabeled or harmful food. Included a requirement for truthful labeling of additives. The FDA had to show if a food product was "unsafe".

• 1958 - Food Additives Amendment to the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act
  

  First specific regulation of food additives. Approval of new food additives was required before they could be marketed, and the responsibility for proving their safety was placed on the petitioner (manufacturer who wants to market the additive). Defined safe as a "...reasonable certainty" that no harm will result from use of the additive.
  The Delaney Clause stated "no additive shall be deemed safe if it is found to induce cancer when ingested by man or animal."
  Exempted two groups of additives: (1) substances which experts have classified "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS). Also exempted from testing were "prior sanctioned substances" which FDA or USDA had approved for use in food prior to passage of the 1958 Food Additives Amendment. Additives can be removed from the lists if tests indicate the substances are not safe for human consumption. All substances previously listed as GRAS are being reviewed to assured that they meet current food safety standards.

• 1960 - The Color Additive Amendments
  

  All colors -- natural and synthetic -- were brought under the FD and C Act. Color additives may not be used to deceive consumers or to conceal blemishes or inferiorities in food.

• 1996 - The Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA)
  
  • Applies mainly to pesticide residues in food
  • Eliminates the Delaney Clause as it applies to pesticide residues
  • Includes a consumer Right-to-Know provision
  • Link to University of Idaho FQPA Fact Sheet
  • Link to Istitute for Environmental Toxicology FQPA site
  • Link to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) FQPA information site
• 1997 - Proposed changes in GRAS notification process

Back to Food Additive Safety Page

Prepared Summer 1997 by Bernadene Magnuson, Ph.D.
University of Idaho, Dept. of Food Science and Toxicology - EXTOXNET FAQ Team.