Section 409 of the Federal Food, Drug,
and Cosmetic Act (the act) (21 U.S.C. 348) establishes a premarket
approval requirement for "food additives;" section 201(s) of the
act (21 U.S.C. 321) provides an exemption from the definition of
"food additive" and thus from the premarket approval requirement,
for uses of substances that are Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS)
by qualified experts. In April 1997, FDA proposed a voluntary
procedure whereby manufacturers would notify FDA about a view that
a particular use (or uses) of a substance is not subject to the
statutory premarket approval requirements based on a determination
that such use is GRAS (62 FR 18938, April 17, 1997). Proposed ??
170.36 and 570.36 (21 CFR 170.36 and 570.36) provide a standard
format for the voluntary submission of a notice. The notice would
include a detailed summary of the data and information that support
the GRAS determination, and the notifier would maintain a record of
such data and information. FDA would make the information
describing the subject of the GRAS notice, and the agency's
response to the notice, available in a publicly accessible file;
the entire GRAS notice would be publicly available consistent with
the Freedom of Information Act and other Federal disclosure
statutes.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.