PHOs: Illegal Food Additives Since 2005

In the Middle Ages when meat was scarce, con men were known to sell suckling pigs in a bag but substitute a cat. The lesson came down to us as, “Never buy a pig in a poke.” Similarly, in Europe buying a “cat in a sack” means to be fooled.

GRAS (generally recognized as safe) is a pig in the poke. Consumers buy and eat food without ever seeing inside the “poke” of GRAS status. GRAS, general recognition of safety by experts in the field, does not require FDA appro…