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.
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (3)
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Out of balance: conflicts of interest persist in food chemicals determined to be generally recognized as safe
The study found that food companies decide for themselves if their additives are safe, often without telling the FDA or the public — exactly what the claim says.
The study says food companies can decide for themselves if a new ingredient is safe without asking the FDA or telling the public — which is exactly what the claim says.
The study shows that food companies can decide on their own if a new ingredient is safe and just tell the FDA about it — the FDA doesn’t have to say yes first, and the public doesn’t always see the details. This matches the claim.
Contradicting (1)
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A hard look at FDA's review of GRAS notices.
The study shows that food companies must send their safety data to the FDA, and the FDA checks it and makes it public — so it’s not true that companies can just decide safety on their own without anyone looking.
Gold Standard Evidence Needed
According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.