Brandon Neuschafer Featured in Chemical Watch on HHS Secretary’s Proposed Overhaul of U.S. Food Safety Regulations

Consumer Products partner Brandon Neuschafer was recently quoted in the Chemical Watch article, “Kennedy’s pledge to overhaul US food rules should be taken ‘very seriously.’” The story examines Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr's call for sweeping reforms to the U.S. food safety regulatory system, including the potential elimination of self-affirmed GRAS (generally recognized as safe) determinations.

Neuschafer noted that while Kennedy’s rhetoric “seems to go beyond the normal reprioritization that you see with a new administration” and may signal “disruptive change,” he has offered “very little in terms of concrete proposals.” He added that mandating pre-market GRAS reviews would require a “years-long rulemaking” process and substantial agency resources — resources that may be constrained due to recent staffing reductions. “Without a functional self-affirmed GRAS process, or a very functional alternative process,” he cautioned, “people would be surprised at the stifling of innovation.”

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