[zwieback]

Sure, there are lots of foods that are legal but unhealthy but you don't have to eat them. It doesn't take much to get informed about the basics of nutrition.

The broad goal of FDA regulations is not really to prevent you from eating unhealthily but rather to prevent eggs, milk, meat and produce from making you sick. In that respect the food industry and FDA regulations have been spectacularly successful. Any nostalgia for a bygone era of healthy and plentiful food is misguided.

You could make a case for forcing people to eat healthier but that will be an uphill battle, both economic interest and poor consumer habits are aligned against that. There have been some success stories (e.g. outlawing transfats) but they are few and far between.

[lobster_johnson]

Unfortunately, the FDA isn't that rigorous about what can be hidden behind words like "natural flavours". Many are innocuous (e.g. coconut extract). Trehalose is one of them.