Food & Agriculture

Consumer, Public Health Groups Ask FDA Not to Sidestep Safety Concerns Surrounding Potassium Perchlorate Food Additive

CFA and a coalition of consumer, public health, and environmental groups have filed comments asking FDA to reject an industry group’s petition to amend FDA’s food additive regulations on potassium perchlorate. The Society of Plastics Industry, Inc. requested that FDA recognize that the manufacturers have abandoned use of potassium perchlorate, a substance that can affect the brain development of fetuses and infants. If approved, FDA would remove regulations authorizing those “abandoned” uses. The industry petition, however, provides little assurance that all manufacturers, particularly those overseas, have actually curtailed use of the chemical, leaving open the possibility that exposure to consumers will continue to occur. Moreover, if FDA were to approve the petition, companies could still make an independent determination that use of potassium perchlorate is “generally recognized as safe” without notifying the agency, or anyone else. CFA and its allies have asked FDA to meet its statutory obligation to act on a petition filed nearly two years ago by public interest advocates, which would affirmatively ban hazardous uses of potassium perchlorate by food manufacturers.