Definitions for "Delaney Clause"
The Delaney Clause in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) states that no additive shall be deemed to be safe for human food if it is found to induce cancer in man or animals. It is an example of the zero tolerance concept in food safety policy. The Delaney prohibition appears in three separate parts of the FFDCA: Section 409 on food additives; Section 512, relating to animal drugs in meat and poultry; and Section 721 on color additives. The Section 409 prohibition applied to many pesticide residues until enactment of the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-170, August 3, 1996). This legislation removed pesticide residue tolerances from Delaney Clause constraints.
A provision of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, that governs the setting of pesticide residue tolerances in the approval process of food additives, color additives, or new animal drugs. The Delaney Clause bars the Environmental Protection Agency from granting any tolerance for a pesticide residue that has been found to induce cancer in humans or in animals, if it concentrates during processing.
The 1958 Food Additive Amendment to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that prohibits the use of direct food additives that have been shown through appropriate tests to cause cancer in humans or laboratory animals. The clause implies a "zero cancer risk" standard for processed foods.