FDA determines tara flour not safe

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently determined that tara flour in human food does not meet the Generally Recognized As Safe (or GRAS) standard and is an unapproved food additive.

A review of the regulatory status of this food ingredient was triggered after a 2022 outbreak investigation where leek and lentil crumble product that used tara flour was associated with roughly 400 adverse event reports.

The FDA’s evaluation revealed that there is not enough data on the use of tara flour in food, or a history of its safe use, to consider it GRAS.

Tara flour is a plant-based protein ingredient manufactured from the seeds or pods of the South American Tara tree (Caesalpinia spinsoa).