(Op-Ed)

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Food Additives 'Generally Recognized As Safe" Could Be Anything But (Op-Ed)

Peter Lehner is executive director of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). This Op-Ed is adapted from one that appeared on the NRDC blog Switchboard. Lehner contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

Americans consume more processed and packaged food than just about anyone else in the world. Processed foods, many of which contain added sugar , preservatives and chemical additives, are hard-wired into our food system, and make up the majority of the American diet. In her upcoming documentary Fed Up, headed to theatrical release on May 9, co-producer Laurie David explores the roots and consequences of this diet, and how the U.S.industrialized food system could be a major contributor to the national obesity epidemic .

How did the way we eat become so unhealthy? Our food system is dysfunctional, all along the chain from farm to fork. The way we eat now is not good for our bodies — and it's not good for our planet. Eating processed and packaged food might be even more risky than most of us realize. In a recent report, NRDC focused on a single legal loophole that allows hundreds, if not more than a thousand, chemical additives into the U.S. food supply — those unpronounceable ingredients on the back of the box — bypassing safety review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

When we pick up a package of food at the store — cereal, frozen pizza, chips, an energy drink, a nutrition bar, cake — we assume that everything in it is OK to eat. Companies wouldn't be allowed sell those foods otherwise, right? But because of a giant loophole in food safety law — the "generally recognized as safe," or GRAS, loophole — chemical manufacturers can decide for themselves if the product they've created is safe to consume.

news.yahoo.com/food-additives-generally-recognized-safe-could-anything-op-200118801.html