by Marion Nestle
Sep 3 2025

New York City updates food standards for city agencies: restricts artificial sweeteners and colors

I was sent a press release from New York City’s food policy office: NYC Releases Updated Food Standards for Foods and Beverages Served by 11 City Agencies

We are pleased to announce the release of the 2025 updates to the NYC Food Standards for Meals and Snacks Purchased and Served as well as a new Implementation Guide for the NYC Food Standards for Cafeterias and Cafes.

The new standards apply to the nearly 220 million meals and snacks served annually by city agencies and sub-contractors at schools, childcare centers, older adult centers, correction centers, shelters, public hospitals, and parks.

The Food Policy office also released a fully updated implementation guide to help meet the NYC Food Standards for Cafeterias and Cafes that were updated in 2023. These Standards are voluntary for retail food venues in hospitals, universities, and other organizations.

The key updates:

  • No artificial sweeteners
  • No artificial colors and certain flour additives and preservatives
  • No processed meats
  • Emphasis on whole or minimally processed plant protein foods
  • Improved nutrition quality of snacks

The list of prohibited artificial sweeteners is worth a look:

Includes: acesulfame potassium, advantame, allulose, aspartame, brazzein, monatin, monk fruit (also known as luo han guo), neotame, polydextrose, rebauside, rebaudioside, steviosides, stevia, saccharin, sucralose, and sugar alcohols (glycerol, mannitol, sorbitol, xylitol, erythritol, and Lycasin and Palatinit)

So is the list of prohibited artificial colors:

Artificial Color, FD&C Blue No. 1, FD&C Blue No. 2, caramel color, Citrus Red
No. 2, FD&C Green No. 3, Orange B, FD&C Red No. 40, titanium dioxide, FD&C Yellow
No. 5, and FD&C Yellow No. 6

The Make America Healthy Again crew should be happy about these bans, as they go right along with its agenda.

Here’s how the press is covering this:

Politico: NYC to restrict processed meats, artificial dyes in meal programs

 

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