[maxlybbert]

In the US, at least, food regulations (and food packaging regulations) are relatively recent. And when they started, instead of requiring everybody prove that everything they’d been doing was safe, they came up with the idea of identifying substances or practices as Generally Recognized as Safe ( https://www.fda.gov/food/food-ingredients-packaging/generall... ), and then requiring safety analysis on new substances or practices. And things can lose their GRAS status if new evidence turns up.