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FDA Opens Formal Reassessment of BHA Food Preservative

The agency opened a public request for data to determine whether the decades-old preservative remains safe under current uses.

FILE - The Food and Drug Administration seal is seen at the Hubert Humphrey Building Auditorium in Washington, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
FILE PHOTO: Signage is seen outside of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) headquarters in White Oak, Maryland, U.S., August 29, 2020. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo/File Photo
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Overview

  • The FDA issued a request for information on butylated hydroxyanisole in food and food-contact materials as part of its post-market chemical review program.
  • Public comments and scientific data are due by April 13, 2026, with the agency evaluating whether current uses meet contemporary safety standards.
  • BHA is a synthetic antioxidant used to keep fats and oils from spoiling in products such as cereals, frozen meals, cookies, ice cream and some meat items.
  • The National Toxicology Program lists BHA as reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen based on animal studies, though it was designated GRAS in 1958 and approved as a food additive in 1961.
  • HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said removal is possible if the preservative fails today’s scientific benchmarks, and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary signaled similar reviews of BHT and azodicarbonamide.