FDA Reopened the BHT Comment Period — and Let the ADA Record Close

The BHT and ADA split in plain English

• Two parallel reviews just took different paths. In May, FDA opened identical information requests on two long-used food chemicals — BHT (a preservative) and ADA (a flour agent) — with the same comment deadline. On July 10 it reopened BHT’s for 30 more days; ADA’s closed on schedule.
• A reopening is not a safety verdict. It means stakeholders asked for more time to compile data and FDA said yes. It says nothing about whether either substance will ultimately be restricted.
• The split is the story for anyone tracking deadlines. Two dates set on the same day, in the same program, diverged three days before close. An alert written last month now has one of them wrong.
• Resolved July 30: the Federal Register notice published and set BHT’s deadline at August 31, 2026 — twenty days after the announcement. FDA now moves to reviewing what the ADA record collected. Both trackers below log each step as it happens.

On July 10, 2026, FDA announced it will reopen the public comment period on its Request for Information on butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) — in human food and as a food-contact substance — for an additional 30 days, citing stakeholder requests for more time to compile and submit data and scientific information. At the time of first writing, the reopening notice had not yet appeared and no new deadline existed; the notice published on July 30, 2026, setting the deadline at August 31, 2026. The agency’s parallel Request for Information on azodicarbonamide (ADA) was not reopened: FDA reported receiving no requests for additional time, and that comment record closed on July 13, 2026, as originally scheduled.

Where the two RFIs came from

Both requests issued on the same day, May 13, 2026, one day after FDA finalized its proactive post-market assessment program for chemicals in food — the framework under which the agency systematically re-examines substances already in the food supply, including GRAS substances, food additives, color additives, food-contact substances, and contaminants. BHT and ADA were announced as the program’s first reassessment pair, following the BHA information request that preceded the program’s finalization (published February 11, 2026). BHT is used as an antioxidant to prevent fats and oils from spoiling, in products including breakfast cereals, baking mixes, and chewing gum, and as an antioxidant in food-contact materials. ADA is used as a whitening agent in cereal flour and a dough conditioner in bread making, with separate food-contact applications. Each RFI asked for current uses, use levels, dietary exposure, and safety data.

What a reopening means — and what it doesn’t

Procedurally, reopening a comment period is a timing decision, not a substantive one. FDA’s stated reason is that interested stakeholders — the manufacturers, trade associations, and researchers who hold the use-level and exposure data the agency asked for — requested more time to assemble it. A reopening therefore signals engagement with the data call; it is not a finding about BHT’s safety in either direction, and nothing in the announcement characterizes the evidence received so far. The same logic runs the other way for ADA: FDA attributed the unchanged deadline to the absence of extension requests, not to any conclusion about the substance. Late-filed comments on ADA will not be considered; the docket closed at 11:59 p.m. ET.

Why the split matters

For anyone whose work touches these dockets, the practical significance is the divergence itself. The two requests were born identical — same day, same program, same deadline — and separated three days before close. A client alert or compliance calendar prepared in June now states the BHT deadline incorrectly, and will keep doing so until its author notices a Friday announcement that drew little coverage. That is the recurring operational problem with point-in-time regulatory documents, and it is why this site pairs every analysis piece with a living tracker: the GRAS Reform Tracker and the State Food Additive & Dye Law Tracker both carried the split in their changelogs the day it took effect. The episode also offers an early read on the post-market program’s mechanics: the data-call phase is flexible where stakeholders engage, and FDA is proceeding substance-by-substance rather than in lockstep — each docket on its own clock.

What to watch next

Three things, in order. First — now resolved — the Federal Register reopening notice, which published July 30, 2026 and set BHT’s deadline at August 31, 2026. Until it published there was no operative date, only FDA’s stated 30-day intention; the gap ran twenty days, and the safe course throughout was to treat the original May 13 deadline as binding. Second, what FDA does with the closed ADA record: the program’s framework documents describe a prioritization-and-review sequence, but the agency has not committed to a timeline for announcing findings from a completed data call. Third, whether additional substances join the reassessment queue; the agency maintains a public list of chemicals under review. Each development is logged on the affected trackers, with the primary source attached.

Primary sources: BHT RFI, 91 Fed. Reg. (May 13, 2026) · ADA RFI, 91 Fed. Reg. (May 13, 2026) · BHT reopening notice, 91 Fed. Reg. (July 30, 2026) · BHT docket, FDA-2026-N-2526 (regulations.gov) · FDA post-market assessment program announcement (May 12, 2026) · FDA — List of Select Chemicals Under Review