The Trump Administration Wants More Food Ingredient Disclosure

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. rose to prominence in part by criticizing America’s reliance on ultraprocessed foods and promising to make the food supply healthier. On Aug. 10, he announced proposed changes to a longstanding U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) process that determines when food companies have to tell the agency that they’re adding new ingredients to the food supply.Previously, food companies were permitted to determine on their own that some new food ingredients—often combinations of lab-manufactured chemicals—were Generally Recognized As Safe, or GRAS, and could decide whether or not to tell the FDA that they were including them in their foods. They did that by filing a GRAS notice with the agency at the same time that the food hit the market. But because they were not required to file a GRAS notice, many companies didn’t. A 2026 analysis by the Environmental Working Group, a health-focused nonprofit, identified at least 111 food chemicals that companies had added to foods including cereal, snack bars, and sports drinks without informing the FDA. “When I came to HHS, I asked the FDA how many ingredients we have in our food, and they said they didn't know. They said it c...