Center for Science in the Public Interest Calls for Safer Food Policy in NYS Budget

ALBANY, NY (01/29/2026) (readMedia)-- Earlier this week, Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) submitted testimony to the joint legislative Budget Hearing on Agriculture & Markets regarding the Food Safety and Chemical Disclosure Act (A1556/S1239). This bill will close this transparency gap by:

• Requiring companies to submit a summary of their internal food chemical safety evaluations to the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets (the Department) when bypassing FDA review,
• Requiring the Department to publish (but not review) that information in a database accessible to the public, and
• Allowing the Department to charge companies fees to cover the cost of new listings and database maintenance.

"These basic disclosures would ensure that regulators, public health officials, and consumers

know which chemicals are being added to foods and whether those chemicals have adequate

evidence of safety. Increased transparency would also create a strong incentive for companies to

use safer, better-studied ingredients," CSPI writes in their testimony.

FULL TESTIMONY BELOW AND ATTACHED.

Written Testimony on behalf of the Center for Science in the Public Interest

Prepared for the 2026 Joint Legislative Budget Hearing on Agriculture & Markets

Submitted by:

Meghan Enslow, MPH

Policy Associate

Center for Science in the Public Interest

January 27, 2026

Chair Krueger and Chair Pretlow:

Thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony for the 2026 Joint Legislative Budget Hearing

on Agriculture & Markets regarding a low-cost measure to strengthen food safety in New York. I

am providing testimony on behalf of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a

nonprofit consumer education and advocacy organization that has worked since 1971 to improve

the public's health through better nutrition and safer food.

CSPI respectfully urges the inclusion of the Food Safety and Chemical Disclosure Act

(A1556/S1239) in the State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2026-27 Executive Budget. This measure aligns with Governor Hochul's consumer protection and public health priorities by requiring food manufacturers to disclose safety evidence for food ingredients, strengthening transparency and protecting New Yorkers from preventable harm at minimal cost to the state.

Under current federal law, food companies can self-certify new ingredients as safe and add them

to the food supply without any U.S. Food and Drug Administration review or public disclosure

through the "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS) process. As a result, even former FDA

leadership has acknowledged that the agency cannot vouch for the safety of many of the

chemicals in our food supply.

The Food Safety and Chemical Disclosure Act would close this transparency gap by:

• Requiring companies to submit a summary of their internal food chemical safety

evaluations to the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets (the Department)

when bypassing FDA review,

• Requiring the Department to publish (but not review) that information in a database

accessible to the public, and

• Allowing the Department to charge companies fees to cover the cost of new listings and

database maintenance.

These basic disclosures would ensure that regulators, public health officials, and consumers

know which chemicals are being added to foods and whether those chemicals have adequate

evidence of safety. Increased transparency would also create a strong incentive for companies to

use safer, better-studied ingredients.

The current system's lack of transparency has already caused preventable harm. In 2022, Daily

Harvest sickened hundreds of consumers with a new, unvetted food ingredient. The company

used tara flour, a plant-based protein, without notifying the FDA. Within six months, the agency

received reports of 393 illnesses and 133 hospitalizations linked to the product.5 Daily Harvest

recalled 28,000 tara flour-containing products, and nearly two years later, the FDA announced

that it could not identify a single toxicity study sufficiently establishing the safety of tara flour.7

Under A1556/S1239, Daily Harvest would have been required to publicly disclose the absence of

safety data before selling products containing the ingredient in New York-potentially

preventing the incident and protecting consumer safety.

Companies are already required under federal regulations to evaluate the safety of new GRAS

ingredients before marketing them. The bill simply requires companies to share that information

with the Department. This legislation does not require the Department to review or assess any

data it receives.

The fiscal impact of this legislation would be minimal. The initial cost to establish the

database-estimated at $250,000 by Senate finance staff-can be recouped through industry

reporting fees, which would also cover new listings and database maintenance, resulting in no

ongoing cost to the state. The database could function as a simple, searchable list of each

ingredient and a PDF summary of its GRAS assessment, similar to FDA's inventory of voluntary

GRAS notices.ii This reporting requirement would only apply to chemicals that do not already

appear in the FDA's inventory of voluntary GRAS notices. The bill also includes a ban on three

harmful food chemicals, which carries no fiscal impact for the state.

Even in a constrained fiscal environment, New York can adopt this low-cost, high-impact reform

to protect consumers and promote food ingredient transparency. The bill passed the Senate and

reached third reading on the Assembly floor in 2025, reflecting strong legislative support. We

encourage its inclusion in the SFY 2026-27 Executive Budget.

Thank you for your consideration.

Meghan Enslow, MPH

Policy Associate

Center for Science in the Public Interest