FDA Declares Tara Flour an Unapproved Additive in Human Food

Neal Fortin<$author.email> - May 15, 2024

Links to resources that explain why tara has been determined as unapproved for human food by the FDA.

Wood bowl and spoons filled with powder. Text reads

The FDA announced its determination that tara flour in human food does not meet GRAS standards and is an unapproved food additive. Link to more information from the FDA on the tara decision here.

Neal Fortin wrote about tara and its legal status in August, 2022 in Food Safety News. In his article, he gave an overview of the three legal pathways for ingredients to be used in food and an explanation of GRAS.

At the time, Fortin concluded that "other than the use of purified tara gum as a thickener, stabilizer, and gelling agent in foods in a small amount of the final food, my research found no published information that other tara use would be GRAS. There are no listings of tara as prior sanctioned. Therefore, other uses of tara, such as the use of whole seed or use as a protein source, would be unapproved food additive uses." Read more in the full Food Safety News article "A discussion of tara and GRAS."

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