A 1958 law allows food companies to avoid formal regulations if it can show that the additives they use are generally used and regarded as safe.  About a third of the time companies  make safety evaluations in secret without ever telling the FDA, and a single consultant can sign off on safety determinations.

Even when they go the more formal route, critics say, the system that introduces new food products to market is rife with conflicts of interest.  A panel of three (usually the same) experts review the research and determine best practice. It is alleged  that these scientific panels are populated by “industry-hired guns”. They are used two thirds of the time, and their decision is the final word on the use of the ingredients in a whole array of foods, with no notice to or review by the FDA. Critics say that when scientists depend on the food industry for income, they may be less likely to contest the safety of ingredients companies hope to market. The fact that some of them have also worked for the tobacco industry does not enhance their perceived integrity.  (from an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity,Copyright 2015 NPR.)

So what is the point of having the Food and Drug Administration?  This seems to be part and parcel of “getting the federal government off our backs”, whereas protecting the public from unscrupulous operators is an essential activity of government.  Were Epicurus alive today I believe  he would support the idea of more impartial oversight into what we put into our mouths.