Have you noticed that the list of food additives seems to be growing at an alarming rate? Do you ever wonder who is responsible for determining the safety of all those chemicals? You were probably thinking that's the FDA's job. And according to the intent of the laws passed by our legislators, you would be correct. But unfortunately, the correct answer is, "No one". That's right — no one.
For a long time, the FDA did indeed rule on petitions filed by manufacturers requesting to use new additives. But the turnaround time became so long that in 1997, in response to continued (and justified) industry complaints, the FDA finally effectively said, "Hey, we're too short-handed to be spending time on this stuff, so y'all just determine whether or not it's safe, and if it is, go ahead and use it. If you aren't sure that it's safe, then submit your data along with a petition and we'll review it and rule on it".
Today, the FDA receives an average of 2 petitions requesting approval for new additives each year.
So obviously all these chemical additives are so safe that their safety is a no-brainer. 
So now everyone realizes that something needs to be done to correct this huge problem, but what can be done? The FDA, like virtually all huge beaurocracies, spends most of it's funding on administration and other unproductive pastimes such as paperwork and staring at a computer monitor, rather than actually doing their job.
Food additives on the rise as FDA scrutiny wanes
I'm guessing that as usual, nothing will substantially improve, but more taxpayer money will be thrown down the FDA rat hole in a token effort.
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