This is something I've never understood. Food additives, flavourings and colours do not get the same level of scrutiny as medicines. If you launch a new medicin

This is something I've never understood. Food additives, flavourings and colours do not get the same level of scrutiny as medicines. If you launch a new medicine into the market, you not only have to demonstrate its efficacy for the treatment, but also the safety. But food additives and supplements seem to get a free pass. These days you can find hundreds of artificial flavourings from artificial smoke, cookie dough, cheddar cheese and what not. Who regulates how these are distilled, safe levels of concentration for consumption and the long term effects on the body? Surely they must have the same safety concerns as any new compounds that are going into medicines? Consumers are likely to consume much greater quantities of food rather than medicine. Who knows how many such situations we will encounter where we find out some food additive is very harmful only in the long run.