Protecting families from contaminated food and water
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Protecting families from contaminated food and water
Posted in Food Policy,Food Safety,Our Blog on March 5, 2026
The BHA preservative has been listed as “Generally Recognized as Safe” or GRAS since 1958. Despite the chemical preservative being questioned twenty years later, it still persists in both food and cosmetic applications in the county’s food supply.
As part of the crackdown on chemical additives in US food products, this BHA preservative is under review. An initiative launched in May 2025 aimed at proactively strengthening the existing program that reviews chemical currently in the food supply.
What is the FDA doing to review this chemical food additive? What is BHA anyway? Why is the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) concerned about it?
Let’s explore!
On February 10, 2026, the FDA launched a “comprehensive re-assessment of butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), a chemical preservative used in food.”
According to the announcement, “the review will consider whether BHA is safe under its current conditions of use in food and as a food contact substance, based on the latest scientific information.”
What does this process look like?
First, the agency issued a Request for Information regarding the use and safety of the BHA preservative. The FDA is looking for some specific information.
Listed in the Federal Register, are the following requests:
“1. General food categories in which BHA is used (for example, cookies, soft drinks, other categories listed in 21 CFR 170.3(n), USDA’s What We Eat in America survey (Ref. 2), or the Codex General Standard for Food Additives (Ref. 3)).;
On April 13, 2026, the request for information will close. Following this deadline, a team of experts will sort through the data. Based on evidence and additional research, the agency will make a determination. Is BHA still considered as a safe food additive? If so, at what level. If not, how soon will the industry be given to remove it from their products?
BHA, or butylated hydroxyanisole, is a type of chemical preservative used in cured meats and other foods. More than 4,600 foods contain BHA.
As a direct food additive, BHA is used as an antioxidant, either alone or with other food chemicals. It is found in flavoring substances (permitted at less than 0.5% of the essential oil content). Also as a chewing gum base (permitted as long as BHA and other antioxidants combined do not exceed 0.1% of the gum base).
Indirectly, it is used as an antioxidant in food contact material like defoaming agents used to produce beet sugar and yeast (permitting the total antioxidant content is less than 0.1% by weight of defoamer). It is also used in adhesives, pressure sensitive adhesives in labels or tape applied to poultry, dry food, and process, frozen, dried, or partially dehydrated fruits and vegetables or raw fruits and vegetables.
It can be found in acrylic plastics, and selling gaskets for food containers.
The USDA has BHA listed as available for use as butteroil in margarine.
BHA is found in many aspects of the food industry.
When BHA entered the “generally recognized as safe” categorization in 1958, it did so because it met one key characteristic. It was used without issue prior to implementing the review requirement.
This means that the chemical was allowed in food without reviewing it for safety.
In 1978, a committee got around to reviewing the BHA preservative because they uncovered “uncertainties.” The panel that brought about the concern requested further studies on the preservative’s toxicity. As well as its impact on the human liver.
In 1990, a doctor filed a petition for the FDA to ban using BHA as food additive. While no federal move has been made, until now, the state of California, under their Proposition 65, as classified at as “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen.”
Currently, the European Union is reviewing the preservative’s potential to disrupt the human endocrine system after studies have found it causing harm to the reproductive system. Decreased sperm quality and uterine weight have been noted.
“BHA has remained in the food supply for decades despite being identified by the National Toxicology Program as ‘reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen’ based on animal studies,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “This reassessment marks the end of the ‘trust us’ era in food safety. If BHA cannot meet today’s gold standard science for its current uses, we will remove it from the food supply and continue cleaning up food chemicals – starting where children face the greatest exposure.”
“The FDA is committed to ensuring the safety of chemicals in our food supply through rigorous, science-based evaluation,” said Kyle Diamantas, Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods. “This comprehensive post-market assessment of BHA reflects our proactive approach to food safety and our dedication to protecting public health by continuously reviewing the latest scientific evidence.”
If you’d like to know more about food safety topics in the news, like “FDA Evaluates BHA Preservative in Crackdown on Chemical Additives in the US Food Supply,” check out the Make Food Safe Blog. We regularly update trending topics, foodborne infections in the news, recalls, and more! Stay tuned for quality information to help keep your family safe. While The Lange Law Firm, PLLC strives to Make Food Safe!
By: Heather Van Tassell (contributing writer, non-lawyer)