David Kessler hands RFK Jr and MAHA a gift: Define Ultra-Processed Foods as Not GRAS
Feature Image Credit: McMaster University
David Kessler, a physician, lawyer, and former FDA Commissioner, has done a great service for the Make America Healthy Again movement. He has written a letter to RFK Jr presenting a Citizen’s Petition to the FDA: “Petition to Limit the Exposure of Refined Carbohydrates used in Industrial Processing in order to Prevent Obesity, Diabetes, and Cardiovascular Disease in Children and Adults.”
His petition argues that processed refined carbohydrates should no longer be considered Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS). These are:
- Refined sweeteners, including corn syrup, corn solids, glucose syrups, dextrose, invert sugar, xylose, maltose, and high fructose corn syrups; and maltodextrin
- Refined flour and starches that are subjected to food extrusion technology, including wheat, corn, tapioca, oat and potato flour, and starches that are processed by extraction or similar technology, and
- Sucrose, refined flours, or starches that are used with emulsifiers (e.g. mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids, DATEM, sodium stearoyl lactylate, polysorbates); dough conditioners and strengtheners (e.g. azodicarbonamide, L-cysteine, calcium peroxide); humectants (e.g. propylene glycol); stabilizers and gums (e.g. carboxymethylcellulose, methylcellulose); or modified starches and fillers (e.g. regelatinized starch, modified food starch, dextrins).
The carefully argued and lengthy petition makes a strong case for the unhealthy nature of processed refined carbohydrates.
Wow.
If the FDA agrees—and it has to deal with the petition within 180 days—these ingredients would no longer be GRAS and foods containing them would be considered adulterated and illegal to sell.
Here’s what I said to the press:
- This would cover an extraordinarily large percentage of foods that are ultraprocessed… an extraordinarily impressive document” (New York Times).
- Kessler has given the FDA a way to define the vast majority of ultra-processed foods. In doing so, he has handed RFK Jr a huge gift on the path to regulating these products. It’s just what MAHA has asked for. I hope they take it seriously (CNN).
Can’t wait to see how RFK Jr and the FDA handle this.
The post David Kessler hands RFK Jr and MAHA a gift: Define Ultra-Processed Foods as Not GRAS appeared first on Food Politics by Marion Nestle.
Marion Nestle is Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, Emerita, at New York University, which she chaired from 1988-2003 and from which she officially retired in September 2017. She is also Visiting Professor of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell. She earned a Ph.D. in molecular biology and an M.P.H. in public health nutrition from the University of California, Berkeley, and has been awarded honorary degrees from Transylvania University in Kentucky (2012) and from the City University of New York’s Macaulay Honors College (2016). In 2023, she was awarded The Edinburgh Medal (for science and society).
