The death of food dyes?
RFK leads the charge nationally against food additives as a whole, while New York State, California, and surprisingly, West Virginia pave the way at the state level to ban food dyes
Robert Kennedy Jr’s (RFK’s) Make America Healthy Again campaign (MAHA) has been making lots of airwaves lately. It is proving to be one of the areas where there is a clear opportunity for bipartisan support based on the amount of legislative action across both blue and red states on food and health related topics, particularly around food additives and food dyes. So, let’s get into it…
Can RFK close the GRAS loophole?
Earlier in March it was announced that RFK directed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to “Explore Rulemaking to Eliminate Pathway for Companies to Self-Affirm Food Ingredients Are Safe.” This would mean huge changes for the food industry, particularly regarding ultra-processed foods.
So why is this important?
If you think that every ingredient in food products has been tested for safety by a regulatory body, then you are, unfortunately, incorrect. For close to 30 years now, food manufacturers get to make the call whether something is considered “generally recognized as safe” or GRAS. To learn more about the history, process, and health issues associated with the GRAS, I recommend you check out our GRAS writeup from December.
One thing worth mentioning given the announcement on March 27th of Health and Human Services cutting 10,000 positions…allegedly, these layoffs will not impact FDA food reviewers or inspectors. Let’s hope that remains the case.
Is the use of food dyes, well, dying??
Food dyes are a common food additive in ultra-processed foods that have a separate review and approval process than ingredients that fall under the “generally recognized as safe” list. The year started off strong in the crusade against food dyes when the FDA announced a ban of Red Dye No 3. from food and ingested drugs back in January (paradoxically, Red Dye No. 3 has been banned from cosmetics since 1990). This revocation is thanks to The Delaney Clause which “prohibits FDA authorization of a food additive or color additive if it has been found to induce cancer in humans or animals.”
While manufacturers have a few years to comply with this new federal level ruling, some states are making their own headway against food dyes, as well as other harmful additives or GRAS ingredients.
So why is this important?
Food dyes are chemicals that have been found to cause neurobehavioral problems in some children, driving up a risk to brain development, and potentially increased risk of cancer. California used that reasoning as their justification to pass the California School Food Safety Act in 2024, banning six food dyes from public school lunches. States like California are pivotal in paving the way for Federal legislation as their population and market is so big, oftentimes when legislation is passed there, manufacturers preemptively make changes nationally so as not to juggle multiple product variations. But California is not the only state breaking ground lately…
West Virginia passes groundbreaking legislation
Earlier this month, lawmakers in West Virginia passed House Bill 2354 which was signed into law on March 24th by Governor Patrick Morrisey. This makes West Virginia the first state in the U.S. to pass such a comprehensive ban on food dyes. The legislation denotes a handful of food additives as unsafe. Beginning August 1, 2025, the following dyes will be prohibited for use in any meal served in a school nutrition program:
Red Dye No. 3
Red Dye No. 40
Yellow Dye No. 5
Yellow Dye No. 6
Blue Dye No. 1
Blue Dye No. 2
Green Dye No. 3
Beginning on January 1, 2028, products containing the aforementioned dyes in addition to the following two preservatives will be prohibited from being sold in the state:
Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA): increased risk of cancer; hormone disruption
Propylparaben: part of the paraben family; known for being an endocrine disruptor that can increase the risk of harm to the reproductive system
While the extended deadline is aimed at providing food manufacturers time to reformulate their products, this is overall a huge step forward for West Virgina, with hopefully more states to follow.
New York State introduces bill to tackle multiple additives
New York State introduced S.1239/A.1556, The Food Safety and Chemical Disclosure Act, which, if passed:
Bans the following from all foods sold in New York State:
Red Dye No. 3
Potassium bromate: a flour enhancer associated with an increased risk of cancer
Propylparaben
Prohibits the sale of food and beverages containing the following synthetic color additives in any public school in the states or in any school nutrition lunch programs (akin to the new law in West Virginia):
Red Dye No. 3
Red Dye No. 40
Blue Dye No. 1
Blue Dye No. 2
Green Dye No. 3
Yellow Dye No. 5
Yellow Dye No. 6
Closes the GRAS (generally recognized as safe) loophole that allows food manufacturers to decide for themselves whether the additives they are using are safe.
Mandates food companies report all ingredients in their products and demonstrate their safety.
States to watch
According to EWG’s Food Bill Tracker, there are over 50 active bills (at the time of this publication) across the country aimed at tackling food additives at the state level. Of those bills, food dyes are the most common target with 31 bills specifically calling out Red Dye No. 3, for example.
Ten additional states have bills focusing solely on banning artificial colors and certain food additives to school lunches. Those include Arizona H.B. 2164, Florida H.B. 611, Hawaii S.B. 791, Iowa H.B. 212, Massachusetts S.D. 2521/ H.D. 4095, Oregon H.B. 3015, Rhode Island H. 5115, Texas H.B. 1637 and S.B. 314, Utah H.B. 402, Vermont S. 26, and Virginia S.B. 1289.
Several other states, such as New Jersey, Arkansas, Connecticut, and more have bills targeting Red Dye No. 3 and potassium bromate. To see if your sate has active legislation, check out EWG’s state food chemical regulation page here.
What can you do next?
The Wall Street Journal published a great article earlier this week that crunches the numbers on just how prevalent food dyes are in the American food supply. The unsurprising bottom line - they’re much more common than you think.
While we wait for the federal government to enact broader legislation, here are some of the things you can do:
Check the labels for your grocery haul and see if there is any pesky dye lurking where it frankly has no business being
If you live in a state that has a bill (or even one that doesn’t!), contact your state representative to let them know your thoughts on legislation around food dyes and additives
If you cook at home with food dyes (particularly for baking), look into some natural alternatives. I love using butterfly pea powder for added blues / purples when baking (paid link)
What are your thoughts on the legislation against food dyes and additives? Anything you think is missing that you would like to see? Drop a comment below.