RFK Jr. says ultraprocessed food manufacturers hijacked GRAS "loophole" to use questionable ingredients [View all]

Source: CBS News

February 15, 2026 / 7:00 PM EST


Ultraprocessed foods comprise half of the average American's diet, and according to Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., are leading to Americans being obese and malnourished at the same time.

Kennedy said that Americans don't know about the health consequences of what they eat thanks to a 67-year-old government exemption allowing ingredients that are generally recognized as safe, or GRAS. Kennedy says the Food and Drug Administration of today doesn't know how many ingredients there are in American products, but he says estimates show there could be somewhere between 4,000 and 10,000 ingredients.

"There is no way for any American to know if a product is safe if it is ultraprocessed," Kennedy said.

Why American grocery shelves are filled with ultraprocessed foods

The GRAS exemption, enacted by Congress in 1958, allows companies to independently verify the safety of their ingredients with no government oversight if those ingredients are generally recognized by experts as safe. Kennedy said, "that loophole was hijacked by the industry" and food companies flooded the market with ultraprocessed foods full of ingredients that have not undergone full government safety reviews.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gras-impact-on-us-food-diet-60-minutes/