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CFSAN/Office of Food Additive Safety
August 2007
A substance that will be added to food is subject to premarket approval by FDA unless its use is generally recognized as safe (GRAS) by qualified experts.(1) On April 17, 1997, FDA issued a proposed rule (the GRAS proposal; 62 FR 18938) that would establish a notification procedure whereby any person may notify FDA of a determination by that person that a particular use of a substance is GRAS. Although the proposed notification procedure is not yet final, FDA started accepting GRAS notices in 1998. As described in the GRAS proposal, the agency is evaluating whether each submitted notice provides a sufficient basis for a GRAS determination and whether information in the notice or otherwise available to FDA raises issues that lead the agency to question whether use of the substance is GRAS. Following this evaluation, FDA responds to the notifier by letter.
In general, FDA's response has been in one of three categories:
In the GRAS proposal, FDA announced its intention to maintain an Inventory of GRAS Notices and the agency's response to those notices. The "Summary of All GRAS notices" table (see summary of GRAS Notices) is the main page of that inventory. Importantly, the Summary of all GRAS Notices includes all GRAS notices, regardless of whether the notice is pending at FDA or has come to closure, and regardless of the nature of FDA's response.
(1)In addition, a substance that is used in accordance with a sanction granted prior to September 6, 1958 is not subject to premarket approval.