Kennedy Wants FDA to Close Food Manufacturers’ ‘Self-Affirm’ Safety ‘Loophole’

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert Kennedy Jr. directed the Food and Drug Administration on Monday to revise safety rules to help eliminate a provision that allows companies to self-affirm that food ingredients are safe.

This would increase transparency for consumers as well as the FDA’s oversight of food ingredients considered to be safe, Kennedy said.

“For far too long, ingredient manufacturers and sponsors have exploited a loophole that has allowed new ingredients and chemicals, often with unknown safety data, to be introduced into the U.S. food supply without notification to the FDA or the public,” he said in a statement.

Kennedy has promised to tackle the epidemic of chronic illness with the support of U.S. President Donald Trump, but his broad agenda – ranging from making food healthier to researching vaccines – could conflict with proposed cuts in government spending.

“The FDA is committed to further safeguarding the food supply by ensuring the appropriate review of ingredients and substances that come into contact with food,” FDA Acting Commissioner Sara Brenner said in a post on X.

Currently, the FDA strongly encourages manufacturers to submit notices under a rule known as Substances Generally Recognized as Safe, but they can also have the option to self-affirm the use of a substance without notifying the FDA.

Eliminating this pathway would require companies wishing to introduce ingredients in foods to publicly notify the FDA of their intended use and submit the supporting safety data, the HHS said.

The FDA maintains a public inventory where all notices, supporting data and response letters are available for review.

The Consumer Brands Association, which represents companies such as Coca-Cola and WK Kellogg said that they “look forward to continued engagement with the secretary and the qualified experts within HHS to support public health, build consumer trust and promote consumer choice.”

PepsiCo, General Mills, Kraft Heinz, Hershey, Mondelez and Kellanova did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for a comment.

A few months ago, the FDA had set in motion a restructuring of its food division to increase oversight of food supply and agricultural products under former commissioner Robert Califf.

In January, it proposed that food companies display nutrition labels on the front of the packages.

(Reporting by Bhanvi Satija and Ananya Mariam Rajesh in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Disha Mishra and Jessica DiNapoli; Editing by Arun Koyyur, Alan Barona and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)