Biotechnology’s Impact on Food Ingredients

In the United States, responsibility for regulating food falls to three federal agencies: the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The FDA regulates novel substances in foods and feeds on the basis of dietary risk evaluating foods for safety, allergenicity, and toxicity. The FDA has the right to ban any food product, whether produced through biotechnology or other methods, if it is determined that there is a reasonable possibility that it is unsafe. Many food ingredients, either through long use by industry or through validation using scientific procedures, have been designated Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) under regulations established by the FDA. The USDA regulates bioengineered plants under the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), assessing whether the plant may impact the agriculture industry or the meat processing industry. The EPA evaluates genetically engineered plants for environmental safety, conducting risk assessments on pesticides that could potentially cause harm to human health and the environment and establishing tolerance and residue levels for pesticides.

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