FDA Finally Ends Regulation Of French Dressing After 72 Years

There has been something going on behind the scenes that most people are not aware of. Ever since 1950, the Food and Drug Administration has been regulating anything that called itself “French dressing” by making it used at least 35% vegetable oil.

Those days are now a thing of the past. Along with the vegetable oil restrictions, the dressing also had to contain either lemon or lime juice as well as vinegar. There were other ingredients that were allowed in French dressing, such as tomato paste, spices, and salt, but they weren’t required under the regulations.

According to the FDA, the threshold “no longer promotes honesty and fair dealing” to benefit those who love French dressing.

They also wanted to do more by removing the standard. They wanted to provide more flexibility to those who manufacture the product to allow it to match other nonstandardized foods.

This isn’t something that is just coming up on the radar. The Association of Dressings and Sauces filed a petition in 1998. Nobody knows why it took 24 years for the FDA to respond. They filed the petition because the strict guidelines imposed by the FDA did not allow for innovation and consumers did not have the necessary options.

For example, it was illegal to market low-fat or fat-free versions of French dressing and to use the words “French dressing” on the label. They also questioned why the FDA was taking such a close look at French dressing and leaving other dressings to do anything they like.

According to Food and Beverage Insider, the following statement shows that they now support the decision given by the FDA:

“Since the standard was adopted, there has been a proliferation of a wide variety of non-standardized pourable salad dressings with different flavors (e.g., Italian, Blue cheese, Vinaigrette, Ranch, Caesar) and composition (including reduced fat, ‘light’ and fat-free dressings).”

They went on to say that the standards set by French dressing are not a benchmark for other types of salad dressings.

Now that there are no longer these restrictions in place, anyone who makes French dressing can choose to use vegetable oil and tomato paste or not to use it. As long as they are making a product that is safe to consume, they are within the guidelines.

Of course, French dressing is not at the top of the list for salad dressings. Yes, there are people who are dedicated to eating French dressing on their salads but more than likely, you will find somebody using ranch dressing or Italian dressing.

Now that they are no longer regulating French dressing, the FDA is now thinking of deregulating many other products that are tightly regulated by the organization. It will be interesting to see where this takes us next.