Food Chemical Reassessment Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3927 To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to establish the Office of Food Safety Reassessment, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 7, 2023 Ms. SCHAKOWSKY (for herself and Ms. DELAURO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to establish the Office of Food Safety Reassessment, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Food Chemical Reas- 4 sessment Act of 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. OFFICE OF FOOD SAFETY REASSESSMENT. 6 Chapter X of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic 7 Act (21 U.S.C. 391) is amended by adding at the end the 8 following: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3927.IH H3927 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 3927 IH ‘‘SEC. 1015. OFFICE OF FOOD SAFETY REASSESSMENT. 1 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 2 date of the enactment of the Food Chemical Reassessment 3 Act of 2023, the Secretary shall establish within the Cen- 4 ter for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, an office to 5 be known as the Office of Food Safety Reassessment (re- 6 ferred to in this section as the ‘Office’), to conduct, for 7 purposes of ensuring that food additives, food contact sub- 8 stances, substances generally recognized as safe for use 9 in food, and prior-sanctioned substances or classes thereof 10 are safe within the meaning of section 409, reassessments 11 of the safety of such substances. 12 ‘‘(b) SAFETY REASSESSMENTS.—Not less frequently 13 than once every three years beginning with 2024, the Of- 14 fice shall— 15 ‘‘(1) reassess the safety of not less than ten of 16 the food additives, substances, or classes of sub- 17 stances referred to in subsection (a); and 18 ‘‘(2) issue final regulations— 19 ‘‘(A) determining that any such substance 20 or class of substance is safe within the meaning 21 of section 409 and establishing the conditions 22 of use, if any, under which any such substance 23 or class of substances can be used safely within 24 the meaning of such section; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3927.IH H3927 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 3927 IH ‘‘(B) determining that any such substance 1 or class of substances is unsafe within the 2 meaning of such section. 3 ‘‘(c) FIRST SUBSTANCES SUBJECT TO REASSESS- 4 MENT.—The first ten substances or classes of substances 5 reassessed by the Secretary under subsection (b) are the 6 following: 7 ‘‘(1) Tert-butylhydroquinone. 8 ‘‘(2) Titanium dioxide. 9 ‘‘(3) Potassium bromate. 10 ‘‘(4) Perchlorate. 11 ‘‘(5) Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA). 12 ‘‘(6) Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT). 13 ‘‘(7) Brominated vegetable oil (BVO). 14 ‘‘(8) Propyl paraben. 15 ‘‘(9) Sodium nitrite. 16 ‘‘(10) Sulfuric acid. 17 ‘‘(d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 18 tion alters the authority or duties of the Secretary with 19 respect to the administration and enforcement of section 20 409. 21 ‘‘(e) FOOD ADVISORY COMMITTEE.—Not later than 22 180 days after the date of enactment of the Food Chem- 23 ical Reassessment Act of 2023, the Secretary shall re-es- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3927.IH H3927 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 3927 IH tablish the Food Advisory Committee to advise the Sec- 1 retary with respect to— 2 ‘‘(1) the standards for reassessments conducted 3 under this section; and 4 ‘‘(2) the process and methods necessary to com- 5 plete the work of the Office. 6 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 7 ‘‘(1) The term ‘food contact substance’ has the 8 meaning given such term in section 409(h)(6). 9 ‘‘(2) The term ‘generally recognized as safe for 10 use in food’ means, with respect to a substance used 11 in food, that the substance is generally recognized, 12 among experts qualified by scientific training and 13 experience to evaluate its safety, as having been ade- 14 quately shown through scientific procedures (or, in 15 the case of a substance used in food prior to Janu- 16 ary 1, 1958, through either scientific procedures or 17 experience based on common use in food) to be safe 18 under the conditions of its intended use, as de- 19 scribed in section 201(s). 20 ‘‘(3) The term ‘prior-sanctioned substance’ 21 means a substance described in paragraph (4) of 22 section 201(s).’’. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3927.IH H3927 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB