date:Aug 27, 2012
Concerned citizens can submit petitions asking the U.S Food and Drug Administration to take a closer look at certain food ingredients.
The Government Accountability Office calls these petitions the most formal path for an individual or organization to bring a problem to the FDA's attention.
But some petitioners have been waiting for an answer for a decade or more.
Although the agency is required to offer some response within 180 days (usually a notification that it has reached no decision)