Illinois secretary of state calls on FDA to ban certain food additives

SPRINGFIELD (WGEM) - Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias is taking his push to ban certain food additives to the FDA.

He's calling on the agency to ban certain chemicals commonly found in candies, soda and other ultra-processed food.

The FDA is set to meet Wednesday to talk about developing a better process for its post-market assessment of chemicals.

"The bottom line is that we need to put food safety first, and we need the FDA to do its job," said Giannoulias, a Democrat.

He said putting food safety first means changing how the FDA assess what's too dangerous for people to eat. He wants the agency to change its "Generally Recognized as Safe" (GRAS) definition.

"Americans today are consuming foods with thousands of added flavors, preservatives and other ingredients that have never been studied by the FDA," he said.

Giannoulias, who oversees the state's organ and donor tissue registry, isn't new to the push to ban certain food additives. He promoted legislation earlier this year banning five commonly used additives in candies, soda and other ultra-processed food: brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, Red Dye No. 3 and titanium dioxide.

The state Senate passed the bill before it stalled in the House of Representatives.

The FDA banned brominated vegetable oil in July.

"Because of well-documented health concerns, the use of many of these chemicals are already prohibited in all the European Union nations and several other countries," Giannoulias said.

The Illinois Manufacturers' Association is one of the organizations that opposed the Giannoulias-backed bill. It's Vice President of Governmental Affairs Donovan Griffith, who told lawmakers during a Feb. 21 hearing that states regulating food additives on a peace-meal basis would create chaos.

"The FDA requires evidence that each food additive is safe at its intended level of use before it may be added to food," Griffith said. "There are rigorous testing and safety assessments that take place before an additive can be added to food."

"That would be great if the FDA did its job, but the FDA has not rigorously assessed the safety of chemicals despite noted and well-documented health concerns and new technology, which can test them," Giannoulias said.

It's why he is calling on the FDA to change course starting with Wednesday's meeting.

California passed a similar law to Giannoulias' proposal that's set to go into effect in 2027.

The National Confectioners Association, which opposed the legislation, also released a statement in response to Giannoulias' press conference Thursday:

"It's about time for the consumer magazine publishers and state officials who lack scientific expertise to step aside and allow FDA and our national food safety system to continue to work the way they were designed. We have for months continuously reinforced that FDA is the rightful national regulatory decision maker and leader in food safety to make these important science-based determinations. Food safety is the number one priority for U.S. confectionery companies, and we will continue to follow and comply with FDA's guidance and strict safety standards."