Why nobody knows what’s really going into your food by Phillip Allen, et al.
From the webpage:
Why doesn’t the government know what’s in your food? Because industry can declare on their own that added ingredients are safe. It’s all thanks to a loophole in a 57-year-old law that allows food manufacturers to circumvent the approval process by regulators. This means companies can add substances to their food without ever consulting the Food and Drug Administration about potential health risks.
The animation is quite good and worth your time to watch.
If you think the animation is disheartening, you could spend some time at the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) page over at the FDA.
From the webpage:
“GRAS” is an acronym for the phrase Generally Recognized As Safe. Under sections 201(s) and 409 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the Act), any substance that is intentionally added to food is a food additive, that is subject to premarket review and approval by FDA, unless the substance is generally recognized, among qualified experts, as having been adequately shown to be safe under the conditions of its intended use, or unless the use of the substance is otherwise excluded from the definition of a food additive.
Links to legislation, regulations, applications, and other sources of information.
Leaving the question of regulation to one side, every product should be required to list all of its ingredients. In addition to the package, it should be required to post a full chemical analysis online.
Disclosure would not reach everyone but at least careful consumers would have a sporting chance to discover what they are eating.