BILL NUMBER: S8615
SPONSOR: KAVANAGH
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to report-
ing of GRAS substances
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To give New Yorkers the ability to be health conscious consumers by
requiring companies to disclose their secret GRAS by reporting the use
of their ingredients to the Commissioner of the Department of Agricul-
ture and Markets and to make that information readily available to the
public.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one of the bill amends section 198 of the agriculture and
markets law by defining "generally recognized as safe substance" or
"GRAS substance" as any substance that is not included under the defi-
nition of "food additive" because it is generally recognized among
experts qualified by scientific training and experience as having been
adequately shown to be safe under the conditions of its intended use.
Section two of the bill amends subdivision 4 of section 199-a of the
agriculture and markets law to include food and color additives in all
data submitted to the commissioner and that this data submitted to the
commissioner considered confidential and shall not be revealed to any
person other than to a person authorized by the commissioner in the
performance of his official duties.
Section three of the bill amends the agriculture and markets law by
adding new section 199-g which makes it unlawful to sell or offer or
expose to sale or make any new use of any GRAS substance or combination
of GRAS substances unless a report has been submitted to the commission-
er and is included in a database. This section sets forth the require-
ments and exemptions of the report to be submitted to the commissioner.
Section four of the bill amends section 199-b of the agriculture and
markets law to require the commissioner to make the information set
forth by new section 199-g available to the public in a database avail-
able on its website and allows the commissioner to establish a fee in
order to recover the costs incurred by maintaining the database.
Section five of the bill amends section 202-c of the agriculture and
market law provides enforcement provisions in regards to new section
199-g and any rule or order respecting a GRAS substance.
Section six sets forth the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
New Yorkers deserve to know what they are consuming. Currently, under
the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, Generally Recognized As Safe,
or GRAS, allows for any substance that is intentionally added to food is
a food additive, that is subject to premarket review and approval by
FDA, unless the substance is generally recognized, among qualified
experts, as having been adequately shown to be safe under conditions of
its use. Under this current definition, companies that don't have the
consumer's best health in mind, are not required to disclose to the FDA
on whether their product contains a chemical that is safe for consump-
tion or not. These chemicals can pose serious health risks to the
consumer. This legislation allows New Yorkers to know what they are
consuming and make health conscious decisions as consumers by mandating
that companies who keep their GRAS confidential report their ingredients
to the Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture and Markets and for
the Commissioner to make this data publicly available.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
This is a new bill.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
Minimal.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

Statutes affected:
S8615: 198 agriculture and markets law, 199-a agriculture and markets law, 199-a(4) agriculture and markets law, 199-b agriculture and markets law