The FDA lets food companies add certain ingredients to food without checking them first, as long as a group of trusted scientists agree those ingredients are safe based on how the safety info was gathered.

Food companies can decide for themselves that a new ingredient is safe to put in food, without asking the FDA for approval or telling the public how they made that decision.

The FDA lets a lot of chemicals in our food get approved without ever double-checking if they’re still safe—so some ingredients might be floating around in your snacks and meals that no one’s properly tested lately.

Companies can decide on their own that a new food ingredient is safe to eat, without having to show proof to the government or tell the public what data they used to make that call.

Some ingredients in your food might be harmful and linked to diseases or cancer, but the FDA doesn’t check them first—companies just say they’re safe, and the government lets them get away with it.

Companies can say their food ingredients are safe all by themselves—no need to ask the government for permission—just by deciding they’re harmless based on their own research or common use.