Texas will put warning labels on foods with any one of 44 additives: MAHA’s big win

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has signed a bill authorizing warning labels on food products containing one or more of a long list of chemical additives (see way below).

WARNING: This product contains an ingredient that is not recommended for human consumption by the appropriate authority in Australia, Canada, the European Union, or the United  Kingdom.

What’s stunning about the list is the number of food products likely to be affected.  The list includes the usual color additives, but also bleached and brominated flour, BHA and BHT, DATEM, Olestra, partially hydrogenated oil, and potassium bromate and iodate.  Lots of foods contain these additives.

What’s also stunning is how far this law goes beyond California’s law prohibiting red dye No. 3, and West Virginia’s law restricting seven dyes in schools.

Food companies cannot formulate products for individual states.  They will have to get rid of these chemicals to sell in Texas.

Or they will have to lobby for a less restrictive federal law preempting state laws.

Companies promising to get rid of food dyes

JM Smucker                     Kraft Heinz                          Danone North America

Nestlé USA                        General Mills                      Treehouse Foods

Conagra Brands, Inc        PepsiCo                                Tyson Foods

What others say about this

Washington Post 

 The new mandate will set off a scramble within the food industry, which must decide whether to reformulate its products to avoid warning labels, add the newly mandated language, stop selling certain products in Texas or file lawsuits against the measure.

Stat News

There are, however, a couple of important caveats. The requirement applies only to food product labels developed or copyrighted in or after 2027. The rule would also be preempted if the federal government introduces its own regulations about labeling ultra-processed foods.

Researcher Kevin Klatt

Much of the bill builds on the personal empowerment /individual failing approach to health without really doing any serious analysis of systemic issues. No policies or funding to increase fruit/veg/whole grains etc in school lunch, no review of ingredient safety assessment systems to ensure additives are safer, no addressing lack of insurance coverage for nutrition counseling by trained providers like RDs, etc etc.