FDA Seeks Comment on Proposed New Method for Ranking Chemicals in Food

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released for public comment its proposed method for ranking chemicals in the food supply.

The proposed method for ranking chemicals in food provides a transparent, systematic and science-based approach to determine which chemicals the agency would prioritize for post-market assessments through the agency’s post-market chemical review program, said the agency. It will allow the FDA to allocate resources more efficiently, ensuring that it focuses on food chemicals that may present the greatest potential public health risk, including those that present risk to sensitive populations and are of high public concern, FDA said in a release today.

Determining if a chemical — either one intentionally added to food or a contaminant that is not intentionally added — needs to be further evaluated based on new information takes a structured and science-based approach to ensure that the FDA’s reviews are most protective of the health of consumers, said the agency.

The method released today uses Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) to determine a score for each chemical based on evaluating the information about a chemical against a pre-determined set of criteria. The method is similar in approach and criteria to one that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency uses for prioritizing chemicals, but the FDA’s method takes into account factors specific to exposure from food and uses a scoring method similar to the FDA’s Risk Ranking Model for Traceability, the agency said.

The FDA said it is committed to radical transparency as it develops processes for prioritizing chemicals in food for a post-market assessment. These processes will help to ensure that FDA is taking a risk-informed approach in reviewing data and information about the safety of chemicals in the food supply to protect the health of consumers, the agency said.

Seeking Public Comments

Stakeholder input is critical to inform the FDA’s method and overall approach to post-market assessments of chemicals in the food supply, the agency said.

The FDA encourages the public to comment in docket FDA-2025-N-1733 in response to the questions listed in Section 4 of the method description document.

The last day to submit comments on the proposed method for ranking chemicals in food is July 18. After the public comment period closes, the FDA will submit the method and comments for further evaluation by external scientific experts in line with the requirements of the Information Quality Act.