In 1949, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published guidance to industry for the first time. This guidance, “Procedures for the Appraisal of the Toxicity of Chemicals in Food,” came to be known as the “black book.”

In 1982, the FDA published the first Red Book, the successor to 1949 “black book,”entitled: Toxicological Principles for the Safety Assessment of Direct Food Additives and Color Additives Used in Foods.