The Food and Drug Administration recently classified tara flour—a plant-based protein derived from the seeds of the tara tree, which is common to South America—as adulterated. Therefore, the ingredient is considered illegal and will no longer be permitted in food items sold in the U.S.
After tara flour was the suspect ingredient in an outbreak linked to French Lentil Leek Crumbles, sold by Daily Harvest, a meal-service delivery company, that sickened 400 people across the country two years ago, it prompted the FDA to “examine how it regulates the ingredient more closely.” The agency came to the conclusion that tara flour did not meet the “generally recognized as safe” (or GRAS) standard.
“To get a GRAS designation, an ingredient such as flavoring or a spice must be recognized in the food safety community as safe, as well as have scientific evidence to demonstrate its safety,” Michael Hansen, PhD, senior food scientist at Consumer Reports, said. “In this case, tara flour failed because they provided no evidence to demonstrate its safety.”
There was no direct evidence that tara flour caused the outbreak, Consumer Reports reported, but Daily Harvest recalled the food product in July 22.
Currently, the FDA said “it is not aware of any products now sold in the U.S. that contain tara flour or of any manufacturer developing any products with it,” Consumer Reports reported.
“It’s disappointing that it took so much time and hundreds of illnesses for the FDA to reach this conclusion,” Brian Ronholm, Consumer Reports’ director of food policy, said. “This case exposes a gap in our regulatory system that allows for unapproved food additives and chemicals to be in the marketplace with virtually no oversight.”
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