After the Food and Drug Administration recently announced sweeping recommendations to eliminate potentially toxic chemicals from our food supply, we’re left wondering if the efforts are real or just more talk by a government plagued by a track record of failing to protect our health.
Big pronouncements
In April, the new FDA Commissioner, Dr. Martin Makary, confirmed something that many advocates for healthy food have long believed — “For the last 50 years American children have increasingly been living in a toxic soup of synthetic chemicals.”
Dr. Makary didn’t stop there. He went so far as to assert that the past half-century has seen industry, “Running one of the largest uncontrolled scientific experiments in the world on our nation’s children without their consent.”
That statement finally recognized the hold Big Food has maintained over federal watchdogs. These are the same officials who have looked the other way as our nation’s grocery shelves were filled with toxic substances. It was also a sign of significant transformation taking place within the agency.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., head of Health and Human Services (an agency the FDA falls under), joined Makary at the event, highlighting one of the FDA’s worst-kept secrets — “[Big Food] industry has cast a dark shadow historically over this agency.”
The pair talked about working in concert with Big Food to do the right thing. But will approaching Big Food in a “friendly way,” as Dr. Makary put it, work to get those harmful hues out of our food supply?
According to Dr. Makary: “They want to do it.”
Those pronouncements, however, are something we’ve heard before.
[[READ MORE: FDA moves to eliminate more synthetic food colorings from food supply]]
Bad days ahead for Big Food
The history of artificial colors has long been colored by controversy. And removing the few additives which were previously forbidden has typically taken decades. For example, Red Dye #3, a likely carcinogen, was prohibited from cosmetics and topical drugs 35 years ago. It is still found in food products. Even after it was officially banned from food use in January 2025, manufacturers were given until 2028 to stop using it. FDA is now asking Big Food to speed up the timeline.
But it’s hardly surprising that so many supposedly “harmless” synthetic hues are otherwise when you consider their origins. Over a century ago, many certified dyes were made from coal tar – a thick, black liquid derived from — you guessed it — coal. While some coal-tar color derivatives are still around (mostly in cosmetics and hair dyes), the dyes used today are far more likely to come from petroleum extracts.
Six petroleum-based dyes, which may also contain measurable amounts of heavy-metal contaminants (e.g., lead, mercury, and arsenic) are currently the subject of what Kennedy calls “an understanding” with industry to remove from the food supply by the end of next year. Two additional colors, which are now in limited usage, will be banned.
What’s next?
After all the promises and all the plans announced to eliminate harmful additives from our food supply, what’s next? Perhaps the current patchwork of state laws, such as California having ordered the removal of six colors from school lunches, along with the resolve of the new regime at HHS, will finally spur Big Food to take decisive action.
As Secretary Kennedy put it: If you don’t want to be duped by an “industry [that] is making money keeping us sick,” think of what you and your family eat as your personal food chain. And safeguard it accordingly.
Are you convinced that Big Food is ready to make changes? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.
Read A Consumer’s Guide to Toxic Food Additives: How to Avoid Synthetic Sweeteners, Artificial Colors, MSG, and More, co-authored by Linda Bonvie, to learn more about food additives or read more on her Substack – Badditives.
