GRAS substances range from something as widely used as sodium and caffeine to more obscure chemicals such as theobromine and polyglutamic acid. GRAS designations have been made since the 1950‘s and those reports from the late 50’s through the 80’s are based on data and research from these periods. As you can imagine, research technology has advanced leaps and bounds since then. What the research said back then and what it might say today is an interesting (and alarming) notion. For example, the GRAS report for phosphate-containing compounds (see here) dates back to 1975.
