Texas will put warning labels on some foods, but its additives list has inaccuracies
Dallas – A new Texas law promoting the “Make America Healthy Again” agenda of the Trump administration first requires warning labels on foods such as fries and candies that contain unauthorized colors and additives in other countries.
This could have large -scale effects on the country’s food supply, but an examination of legislation shows that it also distorts the status of certain ingredients that would trigger action.
The law signed by the Republican Governor Greg Abbott on Sunday requires that foods made with more than 40 colors or additives have labels from 2027 saying that they contain ingredients “not recommended for human consumption” in Australia, Canada, the European Union or in the United Kingdom, but an exam shows that almost a dozen targeted assistants are authorized in the regions dozen United States in the United States.
The law, which will send the food industry to rush to respond, is commendable in its intention, but could lead to incorrect quotes and potential legal challenges, said a consumer defense group.
“I do not know how the list of chemicals has been built,” said Thomas Galligan, a scientist from the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “Warnings must be exact to be legal.”
The law, approved with large bipartisan support, is part of a wave of similar legislation this year by the state-managed state-run households, the legislators align with the American agenda of the health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Texas would be the first in the United States to use warning labels to target additives, rather than nutrients like sugar or saturated fats, to change American regimes.
It will oblige food companies to decide to reformulate products to avoid labels, add the newly required language, draw certain products from the shelves of Texas or oppose the measurement before the courts.
We do not know how the list of additives was created. The investigations to the office of the bill of the bill, the senator of the republican state laws Kolkhorst, were not immediately returned.
Regulators in Australia, Canada, the EU and the United Kingdom adopt a cautious approach to food additives: if the safety of a product is uncertain, it can be prohibited or restricted until it is determined in safety. On the other hand, the United States generally authorizes products on the market, unless there is a clear risk of damage.
Three additives targeted by Texas – partially hydrogenated oils, red dye n ° 4 and red dye n ° 3 – are not approved or have been prohibited in food by American regulators.
Several of the other ingredients listed are authorized in these four regions, noted Galligan and representatives of Consumer Brands Association, a trade group of the food industry.
The examples of these include: Blue Dye No. 1; Dye Bleu n ° 2; Butylé or BHA hydroxyanisole; Hydroxytoluène butylé, or BHT; Diacetyle; soybean oil of interest; Lactylated fats of glycerol and propylene glycol; and potassium aluminum sulfate.
In addition, legislation contains regulatory gaps that may prevent certain ingredients from being labeled, said Melanie Benesh, an environmental working group analyst, an activist organization that focuses on toxic chemicals.
For example, the Azodicarbonamide food additive, known as ADA and used as a laundering agent in cereal flours, is included on the Texas list. But under the Federal Code of regulations, it can be used safely in food under certain conditions. This federal regulation probably exempts ADA from the State Labeling Act, said Benesh.
“The law, as adopted, may not end up having the impact that legislators wanted,” said Benesh.
Nutrition experts have long worried potential effects on the health of food additives, even if they are not clear to what extent food processed by role is involved in chronic disease.
Research has shown that requiring warnings on food labels can help orient consumers to healthier choices and cause industry to eliminate ingredients. The Food and Drug Administration of the United States offered packs-front labels which signaled the levels of saturated fat, sugar and sodium.
“This represents a great victory for consumers and consumers of Texas as a whole,” said Brian Ronholm, director of food policy for consumer reports. “It is a reflection of the State not to want to wait for the federal government to act.”
The law also creates an advisory committee for state nutrition, stimulates the requirements in terms of physical education and nutritional studies in public schools and in a charter and requires nutrition courses for students and health professionals who do continuous training.
Several states have taken measures to restrict dyes and additives in food.
In 2023, California became the first state to prohibit certain chemicals and dyes used in candies, drinks and other foods due to health problems. The state was widened last year by prohibiting several additional foods of food served in public schools.
The other laws adopted this year include one in Arkansas prohibiting two special additives from the food sold or manufactured in the State and a law of Virginia-Western includes a state ban on seven colors.
The legislators of several states have adopted measures this year prohibiting certain food additives served or sold in public schools, according to an Associated Pressure analysis using the draft law. This includes Texas, where the governor signed a bill last month prohibiting food with certain ingredients to be served in school lunches.
“It is a rather dizzying moment to look at what is going on, because generally policies that are not very suitable for industry are opposed, especially in red states,” said Christina Roberto, director of the Center for Food and Nutrition of the University of Pennsylvania, “with RFK and the Maha movement, it is really upward things.”
At the federal level, Kennedy and the FDA commissioner, Marty Makary, undertook to eliminate artificial dyes from food and put pressure on the industry to take voluntary measures. Some large food manufacturers have complied.
Health defenders have long called for the elimination of artificial food colors, citing mixed studies indicating that they can cause neurobehavioral problems, including problems of hyperactivity and attention, in some children.
The FDA previously said that approved dyes are safe and that “all scientific evidence shows that most children have no adverse effects when consuming foods containing colored additives”.
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Aleccia contributed to this Temecula, California report. The writer Associated Press David A. Lieb reported Jefferson City, Mo.
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