Texas to put warning labels on foods with certain food additives | FOX 7 Austin

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FILE IMAGE - The breakfast cereal aisle is pictured at a grocery store in Florida in an undated file image. (Photo by: Jeffrey Greenberg/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

AUSTIN, Texas - A new Texas law would require products that contain certain food additives to have a warning label that says those additives are "not recommended for human consumption by the appropriate authority in Australia, Canada, the European Union, or the United Kingdom."

The warning label must be placed in a "prominent and reasonably visible" location on the packaging and must be easily readable on the background of the packaging.

Texas would be the first in the U.S. to use warning labels to target additives, rather than nutrients like sugar or saturated fat, to change American diets.

It will force food companies to decide whether to reformulate products to avoid the labels, add the newly required language, pull certain products from Texas shelves or oppose the measure in court.

The law will impact popular chips and candies, like Doritos, M&M's and Trix cereal, which all use synthetic food dyes.

The law only applies to packages produced after Jan. 1, 2027.

The Consumer Brands Association, which represents major food manufacturers such as General Mills and PepsiCo had previously called on Abbott to veto the bill.

What they're saying:

"The labeling requirements of SB 25 mandate inaccurate warning language, create legal risks for brands and drive consumer confusion and higher costs," John Hewitt, senior vice president of state affairs, told Fox News Digital.

Regulators in Australia, Canada, the EU and the U.K. take a cautious approach to food additives: If a product’s safety is uncertain, it can be banned or restricted until it is determined to be safe. By contrast, the U.S. generally allows products on the market unless there is clear risk of harm.

Three additives targeted by Texas — partially hydrogenated oils, Red Dye No. 4 and Red Dye No. 3 — are not approved or have been banned in food by U.S. regulators.

Several of the other listed ingredients are allowed in all four of those regions, according to the Associated Press.

Examples of those include: Blue Dye No. 1; Blue Dye No. 2; butylated hydroxyanisole, or BHA; butylated hydroxytoluene, or BHT; diacetyl; interesterified soybean oil; lactylated fatty acid esters of glycerol and propylene glycol; and potassium aluminum sulfate.

More than 40 ingredients that could trigger the warning label under the Make Texas Healthy Again bill.

READ MORE: FDA aims to eliminate petroleum-based synthetic dyes in food by end of 2026

The ingredients that would trigger the warning label include:

Beyond the food warning labels, SB25 mandates more time for health and exercise in public schools.

Currently, students in grades six, seven and eight are required to participate in four semesters of at least 30 minutes of physical activity daily. That number would increase to six semesters under SB 25.

In higher education, students in an undergraduate degree program would be required to take a class in nutrition education as developed by the Texas Nutrition Advisory Committee.

The committee would be appointed by the governor by Dec. 31, 2025.

The seven-member committee would at least include:

Doctors and nurses would be required to complete continuing education on nutrition and metabolic health in order to remain licensed in Texas.

The Source: Information about the Texas food warning labels comes from the Texas Legislature and previous FOX 7 coverage. Information on certain additives banned in Texas that are allowed in the countries that will be required to be named on the warning label comes from the Associated Press. Information on the Consumer Brands Association's opposition to the law comes from FOX News Digital.

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