The way a food tastes and smells is important when it comes to choosing what we eat. Food companies engineer foods to ensure they taste and smell appealing by adding flavors and spices. These can be natural substances or chemicals synthesized in a laboratory. They can be a single ingredient—like vanilla extract, dried basil, or a specific chemical—or blends of many ingredients formulated and developed by professional flavorists.
The FDA's review of new food ingredients has a big legal loophole—and food and supplement companies are taking advantage of it at the expense of public health.
Food AdditivesThomas Galligan, PhD, Jensen N. Jose, Adrienne Crezo
Food manufacturers use a legal loophole to introduce new food ingredients without FDA review—endangering public health and leaving consumers in the dark about what’s in our food. Here’s what you should know about the FDA’s review process—or lack thereof—for new food ingredients.
For 50 years, CSPI has worked to improve food safety, labeling, nutrition, and public health. Here's what we accomplished in 2023, thanks to our supporters.
Most bouts of food poisoning clear up on their own. But severe symptoms—like diarrhea that’s bloody or lasts more than three days, vomiting too much to keep liquids down, a fever over 102ºF, or signs of dehydration (like dizziness or infrequent urination)—require medical help. (If in doubt, call your doctor.) Here’s when and how contaminated food typically makes people sick.
One year after filing, CSPI is writing to urge the FDA to grant our color additive petition by immediately publishing a notice to delist carcinogenic Red 3 for use in foods, supplements, and ingested drugs.