Food Chemical Reassessment Act of 2021
Bill: H.R.4694 | Sponsor: Rep. Schakowsky, Janice D. (D-IL)
Policy area: Agriculture and Food

Summary:
Food Chemical Reassessment Act of 2021
This bill establishes the Office of Food Safety Reassessment within the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and addresses related issues.
The office must conduct reassessments of additives, food contact substances, and other related substances to ensure that such substances are safe. Specifically, every three years, the office must reassess the safety of at least 10 substances or classes of substances, including those that are generally recognized as safe for use in food. The office must issue final regulations relating to the safety of each reassessed substance.
The bill also specifies 10 substances that the office must assess in its first review.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must reestablish the Food Advisory Committee to advise the FDA on issues related to the substance assessments required by this bill.

To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to establish the 
      Office of Food Safety Reassessment, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Food Chemical Reassessment Act of 
2021''.

SEC. 2. OFFICE OF FOOD SAFETY REASSESSMENT.

    Chapter X of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 
391) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 1015. OFFICE OF FOOD SAFETY REASSESSMENT.

    ``(a) In General.--Not later than one year after the date of the 
enactment of the Food Chemical Reassessment Act of 2021, the Secretary 
shall establish within the Center for Food Safety and Applied 
Nutrition, an office to be known as the Office of Food Safety 
Reassessment (referred to in this section as the `Office'), to conduct, 
for purposes of ensuring that food additives, food contact substances, 
substances generally recognized as safe for use in food, and prior-
sanctioned substances or classes thereof are safe within the meaning of 
section 409, reassessments of the safety of such substances.
    ``(b) Safety Reassessments.--Not less frequently than once every 
three years beginning with 2022, the Office shall--
            ``(1) reassess the safety of not less than ten of the food 
        additives, substances, or classes of substances referred to in 
        subsection (a); and
            ``(2) issue final regulations--
                    ``(A) determining that any such substance or class 
                of substance is safe within the meaning of section 409 
                and establishing the conditions of use, if any, under 
                which any such substance or class of substances can be 
                used safely within the meaning of such section; or
                    ``(B) determining that any such substance or class 
                of substances is unsafe within the meaning of such 
                section.
    ``(c) First Substances Subject to Reassessment.--The first ten 
substances or classes of substances reassessed by the Secretary under 
subsection (b) are the following:
            ``(1) Perfluoroalkyl substances and polyfluoroalkyl 
        substances.
            ``(2) Ortho-phthalates.
            ``(3) Tert-butylhydroquinone.
            ``(4) Titanium dioxide.
            ``(5) Potassium bromate.
            ``(6) Perchlorate.
            ``(7) Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA).
            ``(8) Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT).
            ``(9) Brominated vegetable oil (BVO).
            ``(10) Propyl paraben.
    ``(d) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section alters the 
authority or duties of the Secretary with respect to the administration 
and enforcement of section 409.
    ``(e) Food Advisory Committee.--Not later than 180 days after the 
date of enactment of the Food Chemical Reassessment Act of 2021, the 
Secretary shall re-establish the Food Advisory Committee to advise the 
Secretary with respect to--
            ``(1) the standards for reassessments conducted under this 
        section; and
            ``(2) the process and methods necessary to complete the 
        work of the Office.
    ``(f) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) The term `food contact substance' has the meaning 
        given such term in section 409(h)(6).
            ``(2) The term `generally recognized as safe for use in 
        food' means, with respect to a substance used in food, that the 
        substance is generally recognized, among experts qualified by 
        scientific training and experience to evaluate its safety, as 
        having been adequately shown through scientific procedures (or, 
        in the case of a substance used in food prior to January 1, 
        1958, through either scientific procedures or experience based 
        on common use in food) to be safe under the conditions of its 
        intended use, as described in section 201(s).
            ``(3) The term `prior-sanctioned substance' means a 
        substance described in paragraph (4) of section 201(s).''.
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