Why the FDA Can't Be Totally Sure Your Food Is Safe

You read all food labels and stay away from artificial ingredients. You nosh on plenty of whole fruits and vegetables daily and squeeze in some lean protein at every meal. But what about the ingredients lurking in that gluten-free pasta you're about to cook? You may be putting yourself at risk without even knowing it.

There's a certain level of trust we put in the hands of food manufacturers. But it seems an antiquated law may be allowing them to slip in new ingredients without prior approval from the FDA. The Food Additives Amendment, which has been around since the 1950s, allows manufacturers to self-proclaim ingredients "generally recognized as safe" (or GRAS), after which they can be used in products without any special warnings on the packaging.