For months food companies have been concerned the health secretary’s efforts would quickly shift from synthetic colors, influencing how food looks, to ingredients that thicken, flavor or preserve foods.

U.S. secretary of health and human services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has directed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to revise its Substances Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) Final Rule in an effort to increase oversight of specific food ingredients and heighten food transparency.

For decades, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's GRAS rule has allowed untested additives into the food supply. Can RFK Jr. fix it?