The battle to clean up the US food supply has begun—and US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr is leading from the front. Today, our US team has released its strategic weapon: a ground-breaking white paper outlining a detailed plan to tackle toxins, protect essential nutrients, and demand unprecedented transparency.

HEADLINES

• ANH-USA has published a new white paper advocating for balanced reform of the GRAS (Generally Recognised as Safe) system, cautioning against the abolition of the Self-GRAS pathway, which has enabled access to many safe and beneficial supplements and natural health products.
• The paper promotes a science-based approach that operates within existing constitutional and legal frameworks, with a strong emphasis on transparency and independent oversight.
• We must urge regulators to support reforms that enhance safety without limiting health freedom, noting that scrapping Self-GRAS would overwhelm the FDA and delay action on truly dangerous additives that persist in the US food supply.

Today, 10 April, we are launching a major new white paper tackling a critical food safety issue: how food and dietary supplement ingredients are approved for use. At the heart of this is the GRAS (“generally recognised as safe”) system, introduced in 1958 and significantly revised in 1997. Our message is clear: reform is necessary, but we must avoid a scorched-earth approach that would eliminate safe, beneficial ingredients along with harmful ones.

>>> Download the ANH GRAS Reform media kit, including the white paper

Understanding GRAS

GRAS is a designation created under the US Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act in 1958. Originally, companies were required to petition the FDA for approval, with ingredients undergoing thorough evaluation. This process aimed to fast-track approval for common ingredients like salt, vinegar, and other staples with long-standing safe use.

However, due to limited FDA resources, major changes were introduced in 1997. Companies were allowed to self-affirm GRAS status provided the substances were widely recognised as safe by qualified experts for their intended use, and notify the FDA voluntarily.

Over time, the Self-GRAS route, where companies independently declare substances as safe without notifying the FDA, has been misused. Some irresponsible actors have added substances to foods without adequate safety evidence. We’ve all seen the infamous lists of food additives banned in Europe, but still permitted in the US. However, many of the most dangerous additives—such as artificial colourings and titanium dioxide—were not approved through Self-GRAS, but by the FDA itself.

Crucially, the Self-GRAS pathway has also been a gateway for innovation in supplements and natural health products globally, helping such products reach the market without unnecessary red tape. In fact, many of the ingredients found in US dietary supplements—used by millions around the world—likely entered the market via this route.

Why ANH is taking a stand

Increasing numbers of health advocates and lawmakers are sounding the alarm, calling for sweeping reforms to the GRAS system. Most recently, Health Secretary Kennedy urged the FDA to consider eliminating the Self-GRAS pathway.

While we agree that reform is necessary, abolishing Self-GRAS outright would be disastrous for health-conscious consumers, the natural health sector, and even for the FDA itself. That’s why our white paper offers a clear blueprint for balanced reform that:

• Prioritises the removal of genuinely harmful ingredients
• Protects access to safe, health-promoting ingredients used in supplements, functional foods, and natural products
• Introduces a GRAS Transparency Register, making all GRAS determinations publicly available for independent review by experts, consumer advocates, and researchers
• Proposes a tiered, proportionate risk assessment model, based on the Paracelsian principle — "the dose makes the poison"—rather than the overly cautious European model, which often treats low- and high-risk ingredients the same
• Avoids adopting overly precautionary, European-style regulations that could unnecessarily restrict access to safe nutrients and foods.

>>> Download the ANH GRAS Reform media kit, including the white paper

Reform without regression

We are committed to protecting consumers from harmful food chemicals, but not at the expense of health freedom or innovation. As outlined in our white paper, abolishing Self-GRAS would place an unmanageable burden on the already under-resourced FDA, which lacks the capacity to reassess over 10,000 ingredients already approved under this route. Closing the door on Self-GRAS would leave dangerous additives on supermarket shelves for years while the FDA struggles through a backlog of assessments. That is not a workable solution.

This is why ANH-USA is urging regulators, lawmakers, and the health freedom community to back a smarter, more transparent form of GRAS reform.

Why it matters to us

At its core, this is a consumer rights issue. It's about preserving Americans' right to access the ingredients they depend on to support their health, from probiotics and botanicals to clean-label supplements and functional foods—and to ensure that these products remain on the shelves, not just in the US, but globally as so many people worldwide depend on US-produced health foods and food supplements. It’s about ending secrecy in ingredient approvals, ensuring corporate interests aren’t protected at the expense of public health, and resisting the imposition of rigid, risk-averse European-style regulation in the US.

If you rely on US-based health foods or supplements—or know someone who does—please help us spread the word. Share the ANH-USA white paper and media kit widely across your networks. Reform is coming and we must ensure it is the right kind.

>>> Download the ANH GRAS Reform media kit, including the white paper

Knowledge is power. Please share this story and our media kit far and wide.

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