Admit it: there are a few molecules of practically every imaginable toxin in everything we eat and drink. We can handle a little . But how much is too much?
And how do we compare the risk from one food or toxin against another? FDA promises transparency. But they don't give us what we need.
Dear FDA,
What I find missing in this tool is how much of each of these toxins the FDA has found in the foods Americans eat, when it tested them? It is all very well to provide us with abstract toxic levels. The big question is, do the foods on the shelves in stores contain these toxic levels?
Is the FDA planning to provide information we can use in our everyday lives? Or are you just telling us you are being transparent while you omit the most important information?
Furthermore, we want to know the long-term as well as short-term toxicity of dangerous substances, but you fail to distinguish them between in your “tool.” Nor do you make it easy to find out what the specific adverse health effects are. Why are you being cagey?
This tool does not serve the consumer of food: every American. We are your clientele. When will FDA assist us to become healthier by providing information we can use to make better food choices?
Look at all the imported food we eat, the vast majority of which is probably never being checked for extraneous materials:
Today, under the leadership of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the U.S. Food and Drug Administration unveiled the Chemical Contaminants Transparency Tool (CCT Tool), an online searchable database providing a consolidated list of contaminant levels (e.g., tolerances, action levels, and guidance levels) that are used to evaluate potential health risks of contaminants in human foods. Chemical contaminants include a broad range of chemical substances that may be present in food and that have the potential to cause harm.
“HHS is committed to radical transparency to give Americans authentic, informed consent about what they are eating,” said Secretary Kennedy. “This new Chemical Contaminants Transparency Tool is a critical step for industry to Make America Healthy Again.”
To protect public health and help industry market products that are safe for U.S. consumers, the FDA establishes or utilizes tolerances, action levels and guidance levels for some contaminants in food. These are levels above which the agency may find that a food may be unsafe but do not represent permissible levels of contamination. The FDA uses these levels to help minimize or prevent chemical hazards in food.
“Ideally there would be no contaminants in our food supply, but chemical contaminants may occur in food when they are present in the growing, storage or processing environments,” said Acting FDA Commissioner Sara Brenner, M.D., M.P.H. “Because many of the most nutritious foods can also contain contaminants, consumers should eat a variety of nutrient-dense foods across and within the main food groups of vegetables, fruits, grains, dairy and protein to help protect from possible exposure effects.”
The CCT Tool, which provides contaminant levels in one location for ease of searching, is one of the outcomes of the FDA’s initiative to modernize food chemical safety. The consolidated list includes the contaminant name, commodity, contaminant level type (e.g., action level, guidance level), level value and reference (e.g., Code of Federal Regulations, FDA Guidance for Industry). The list can also be filtered by contaminant type.
The FDA will continue to monitor the food supply by testing foods through several different programs. Under Secretary Kennedy’s leadership, the FDA is committed to promoting radical transparency to make sure all Americans know what is in their food and Make America Healthy Again.