Glyphosate review: EPA and HHS team up on food exposure

On September 22, 2026, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced an interagency Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to strengthen scientific coordination and expand the evidence available to EPA's ongoing registration review of glyphosate. Its focus areas include dietary exposure and the toxicology of glyphosate formulations. Three days later, on September 25, 2026, the EPA extended public comment on its open literature search document by 60 days, moving the deadline to November 23, 2026.

Key takeaways:

• On September 22, 2026, EPA and HHS announced an interagency Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to strengthen scientific coordination for EPA's ongoing glyphosate registration review.
• Focus areas are the toxicology of glyphosate formulations and surfactants, occupational epidemiology, human exposure and biomonitoring, and dietary exposure, including from preharvest applications.
• EPA retains sole authority under FIFRA; the MOU creates no new authority for either agency and does not predetermine the outcome of the review.
• Public comments on the open literature search document have been extended by 60 days to November 23, 2026. EPA has given two different timings for its updated risk assessment: early 2027 in the release, late 2026 on its glyphosate page.

What happened

On September 22, 2026, the EPA and HHS announced an interagency Memorandum of Understanding designed to strengthen scientific coordination during the active registration review of glyphosate. Glyphosate, a weed killer, is in registration review under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).

A joint technical working group will include HHS components: the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the National Toxicology Program, the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center for Environmental Health, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These components will work directly with the EPA Office of Pesticide Programs.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said: "FIFRA requires us to reexamine registered pesticides on a recurring cycle against the best available science." HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said: "Americans have a right to know what the best science tells us about the chemicals they encounter in their food, workplaces, and environment." Working-group materials will be posted on a rolling basis to public docket EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0361.

What changed

The signing of the MOU establishes a structured interagency workflow, but it does not modify the legal framework governing pesticide approval. EPA retains sole statutory authority for all final registration decisions under FIFRA. The announcement says the MOU creates no new authority for either agency and "does not predetermine or direct the outcome of EPA's glyphosate registration review."

What has changed operationally is the scope of scientific evidence being gathered for the upcoming human health risk assessment. The focus areas named by the agencies are the toxicology of glyphosate formulations and surfactants, occupational epidemiology, human exposure and biomonitoring, and dietary exposure.

According to the release, EPA's human health risk assessment will address exposure to glyphosate-based formulations, dietary exposure including from preharvest applications, and occupational exposure, and will evaluate the available cancer, genotoxicity, reproductive, and developmental evidence. The release adds that data gaps may include emerging areas such as the microbiome.

EPA released its human health open literature search document on August 25, 2026. While feedback was originally scheduled to close on September 24, 2026, the EPA released a notice on September 25, 2026, granting a 60-day extension. Public comments are now open through November 23, 2026, at regulations.gov under docket EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0361.

Who is affected

The review covers both people who eat food grown with glyphosate and people who handle it at work. Under federal law, the EPA is required to determine that there is a reasonable certainty of no harm from aggregate dietary exposure, with particular attention to infants and children.

Occupational epidemiology and occupational exposure are named focus areas, and NIOSH is part of the working group. Human exposure and biomonitoring is another focus area. The release does not describe specific new studies HHS will run or how they will be funded.

Oversight of residues is shared. EPA sets tolerances, the maximum residue of a pesticide permitted in or on a specific food, and the FDA enforces those tolerances for most domestic and imported foods (USDA's FSIS covers meat, poultry, catfish and certain egg products). FDA's monitoring results are summarized in our coverage of the FDA Pesticide Report: Imports Fail 9x More Often.

What it means for shoppers

For shoppers, the MOU changes nothing on a food label today. Glyphosate is an agricultural herbicide, not an intentional food ingredient or processing additive. As a consequence, it will never be listed on an ingredient panel or Nutrition Facts box. Reading the ingredient list will not tell you whether residues are present.

Dietary exposure comes from residues on crops, including from preharvest applications. Whether EPA will change any tolerances, product labels or permitted uses has not been announced.

It also helps to be clear about what has not happened. The interagency review has not concluded that glyphosate is unsafe, has not released new study results, has not set new residue limits, and has not published residue figures for specific foods or brands.

Pesticides on crops are also on state agendas; see California Law Will Track PFAS Pesticides Used on Crops.

The background

Glyphosate's federal review has a long history. In its 2017 assessment, the EPA concluded that glyphosate is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans. EPA says that assessment "did not identify risks of concern from glyphosate uses, including for cancer, dietary and drinking-water exposure."

EPA reached a different conclusion than the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which classified glyphosate as probably carcinogenic to humans. EPA explains the difference this way: IARC assesses whether a chemical is capable of causing cancer under any conditions, while EPA assesses risk under expected real-world exposures.

In Europe, in a news release published on July 6, 2023, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) concluded that its peer review of glyphosate identified no critical areas of concern for human, animal, or environmental health. Working from the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) hazard classification, EFSA stated that glyphosate did not meet scientific criteria to be classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic, or reprotoxic, and it reported data gaps to the European Commission and member states.

In the United States, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the human health portion of EPA's interim decision on glyphosate in June 2022, and EPA withdrew the interim decision in September 2022. The updated human health risk assessment now under way, with HHS input under the new MOU, follows that history.

What to watch next

The public and regulated industries have several milestone dates to monitor as the joint technical working group proceeds:

• November 23, 2026: The public comment window closes for the EPA human health open literature-search document on regulations.gov (Docket EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0361).
• On a rolling basis: working-group materials will be posted to the same docket.
• The updated human health risk assessment and carcinogenicity evaluation: the September 22 release says completion is anticipated in early 2027, while EPA's glyphosate page, last updated in August 2026, says late 2026. Neither is a firm date.

No agency has banned or restricted glyphosate as part of the MOU, and whether EPA will change tolerances, labels or permitted uses such as preharvest application has not been announced.

Glyphosate will never appear on an ingredient list, but the ingredients a manufacturer adds do. Scan a product with the free Aurascan app to see each listed ingredient explained one by one, with cited evidence.