Watch the CBS Reports documentary 'Ultra Processed: How Food Tech Consumed the American Diet' in the video player above.HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. - Fifteen-year-old Tiara Channer was 13 when she was diagnosed with prediabetes — a condition 1 in 5 American kids faces that causes an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes, chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular disease. She and her mother, Crystal Cauley, blame her diagnosis on a poor diet.
Companies could petition the FDA to have a substance added to the GRAS list via FDA review and approval.But in 1997, the FDA loosened the protocol to save resources and created the 'voluntary notification' system. It allowed companies themselves to declare substances GRAS, without requiring them to tell the agency of the determination.