80,000 Chemicals in Our Food? What the Number Really Means

Independent site. Not affiliated with the film's makers. We may earn a commission if you sign up through our links.

Are there really 80,000 chemicals in our food?

The makers' ad claims we're exposed to 80,000+ chemicals in our food supply, a count we quote as theirs and could not independently verify. Under the self-affirmed GRAS pathway, companies can still put additives in your food without the FDA ever reviewing them.

The ad that brought you here

"Americans eat 160+ pounds of added sugar a year. We're exposed to 80,000+ chemicals in our food supply. Our grocery store shelves look nothing like what the rest of the world eats."

The makers' ad, quoted as an ad. Big numbers make big promises, so here is the version you can act on.

The loophole that actually matters

Forget counting chemicals for a second. Look at who checks them.

Under the self-affirmed GRAS pathway, a company can determine that an ingredient is generally recognized as safe, using experts it hires itself, and go to market without FDA review. Notifying the agency is voluntary. The FDA does not independently verify the company's work.

That is not a claim from an advocacy group. HHS itself announced rulemaking in 2025 to eliminate the self-affirmed pathway. The announcement is an admission: the loophole exists, the agency wants it closed, and until the rule lands, the pathway remains open.

So when someone tells you every ingredient in your food was reviewed and approved, the accurate answer is: not all of them, and the ones that weren't were checked by the company selling them.

What is in there, by the government's own account

Take the dyes. FD&C dyes such as Red 40, Yellow 5 and Yellow 6 are synthetic dyes derived from petroleum feedstock. The FDA says so in its own press materials.

For years the official position was that these were fine and the question was settled. Then the position changed.

In January 2025, the FDA revoked Red Dye No. 3's authorization in food. In April 2025, HHS and FDA announced a national phase-out of petroleum-based synthetic dyes. Kraft Heinz has pledged to remove FD&C colors from its US portfolio before the end of 2027, and General Mills has pledged certified colors out of its US cereals by summer 2026.

Read that sequence honestly. The dyes were normal for decades. Now the same agencies that called them normal are removing them. Normal was never a safety finding. It was just what we were used to.

How far the agreement goes

This is not a fringe position anymore.

About 8 in 10 Americans told Gallup in 2026 that they favor banning artificial and synthetic food dyes. Three in four told KFF that chemical food additives are under-regulated. More than 150 state bills on food chemicals had been proposed or passed by late 2026, per EWG's tracker.

When four out of five people want a change, it isn't radical. It's overdue.

What we couldn't verify

The 80,000 count. Counts of this kind depend on how you tally: total registered additives, all industrial chemicals in commerce, or substances that actually appear in food. We will not pick the biggest number and call it confirmed.

The documented part stands on its own. An unreviewed-additive pathway, petroleum-derived dyes that regulators are now phasing out, and a public that wants it fixed. That's the story the ad is pointing at.