In June 2006, Sen. Tom Harkin asked the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to ”review the policy and actions of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with respect to the classification of certain food ingredients as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS).” Sen. Harkin’s request resulted in GAO’s report, “FDA Should Strengthen Its Oversight of Food Ingredients Determined to Be Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS),” issued in Feb. 2010.
Upon the release of the GAO report, the media largely re…