It’s time to revamp the FDA’s “generally recognized as safe,” or GRAS, program that allows companies to add untested ingredients to food, the Health and Human Services secretary says. That may be difficult to do.

The nation's top health official, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is taking steps to tighten oversight of chemicals in the U.S. food supply, a key component of his "Make America Healthy Again" agenda.

The practice Kennedy is targeting, known as “generally recognized as safe,” can occur when companies self-certify the safety of a food additive.

For far too long, ingredient manufacturers and sponsors have exploited a loophole that has allowed new ingredients and chemicals, often with unknown safety data, to be introduced into the U.S. food supply without notification to the FDA or the public,