KANSAS CITY — The opinion of this publication in late October was that the decision by California to ban four food and beverage ingredients beginning in 2027 set a troubling precedent that undermined the authority of the Food and Drug Administration. That stance now looks prescient as Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Washington and West Virginia all have proposed legislation targeting such ingredients as brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, red dye No. 3, titanium dioxide, high-fructose corn syrup and others.

“While a robust debate about which regulatory approach to food ingredient safety is best is always warranted, California’s chosen path for sparking that debate is less than ideal,” reads the editorial published in the Oct. 24, 2023, issue of Food Business News. “If other states follow California’s lead, it may upend actual food safety regulatory work and further confuse consumers about the safety of some ingredients and the food and beverages that contain them.”

That is now exactly where the food and beverage industry is standing, with state legislators — many of whom do not have any food safety experience — legislating food safety rather than relying on actual experts and regulators.

The FDA, for the most part, has not been proactive. In early November, the agency proposed to revoke the use of brominated vegetable oil (BVO) in food. The FDA concluded the use of BVO in food is no longer considered as safe after studies conducted in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health showed bioaccumulation of bromine and toxic effects on the thyroid.

At the time, Jim Jones, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for human foods, said the agency is continuously reviewing and reassessing the safety of a variety of chemicals in food to ensure the science and the law support their safe use.

With the FDA adopting a position of passivity, defending the use of the ingredients has been left to the National Confectioners Association (NCA) and the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT). The NCA, for example, has noted that while there has been widespread media attention given to the topic, there has been no accountability and little to no fact-checking occurring.

“Some states are proposing to dismantle our well-developed national food safety system in an emotionally driven campaign that lacks scientific backing,” said John Downs, president and chief executive officer of the NCA. “(The) FDA needs to assert its authority as the rightful national regulatory decision maker and leader in food safety. It’s time to stop pretending that consumer magazine publishers and state legislators have the scientific expertise and qualifications to make these very important determinations.”

For its part, the IFT has produced a Food Additives Toolkit that provides information about the science behind the ingredients, including the history surrounding food additives and preservatives, and use cases and benefits of the ingredients, including ensuring food safety, reducing food waste and enriching nutrition.

State legislators who mistake politicking for science are going to create a series of unintended consequences that may negatively affect their constituents with higher prices, diminished sensory attributes and a shorter product shelf life. It is a disturbing trend that continues to undermine the standing of those charged with ensuring food safety.