Premarket Food Safety Review

Premarket food safety review is the precautionary regulatory model discussed in The sneaky way companies get new chemicals into our food. The source contrasts it with the U.S. pattern in which GRAS Self-Certification and Secret GRAS can allow ingredients into food before the [[FoodAndDrugAdministration|FDA]] directly reviews them.

The concept is not presented as costless. The episode notes that stronger premarket review could slow food innovation, but it would shift the burden of uncertainty away from consumers who otherwise discover risks through Post-Harm Food Regulation.

In the Tara Flour case, premarket review is the counterfactual: a regulator would have asked for safety evidence before Daily Harvest customers ate the product.

Connections

• Food Additive Regulation - system where the review question arises.
• Food and Drug Administration - agency whose role would become more active.
• Secret GRAS and GRAS Self-Certification - pathways premarket review would constrain.
• Post-Harm Food Regulation - reactive alternative.