Food Additives, Contaminants, and America's Health: Opportunities for Nurses

There are currently over 10,000 food additives allowed for use in the United States. Due to outdated, inadequate laws, companies can add over 1,000 additives into the food supply without notifying the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and are using their own scientists to determine if these additives are safe. This problem is compounded by insufficient FDA authority to obtain the information needed for the agency to identify food additives of concern or perform their own assessments. Contaminants that infiltrate the food from packaging are entirely unregulated, and do not appear on the label. With the safety of the US food supply increasingly in the news, nurses need to be aware of this growing public health problem and be able to provide anticipatory guidance to their clients. In this presentation, we will discuss the regulatory problems with food additives and contaminants. We will provide examples of the leading chemical food additives and contaminants and their health implications, such as bisphenol A. We will also provide tools for nurses to incorporate this information into their nursing practice and be effective advocates for the health of their patients and a safe food supply through more protective government policy, institutional procurement and broad market shifts.