States Move to Ban Artificial Dyes From Food as RFK Jr. Works on Federal Level

By Jeff Louderback, The Epoch Times, April 6, 2025

A longtime movement to eliminate artificial dyes from food is generating momentum, with some health advocates invoking Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” platform.

Multiple state legislatures have introduced bills designed to ban artificial dyes and other food additives.

The Environmental Working Group, a food safety advocacy organization, reports that 20 states have introduced about 40 measures within the first three months of 2025 addressing artificial dyes and chemicals in food.

In October 2023, the California Legislature banned red No. 3. Last August, it also passed a measure to remove six other common dyes from use in school foods.

Virginia passed a similar measure in March.

And on March 24, West Virginia passed the most sweeping measure of its kind when Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed H.B. 2354 into law.

The new law will ban seven synthetic dyes and two preservatives from food and beverages sold in the state.

Beginning Aug. 1, red dye No. 3, red dye No. 40, yellow dye No. 5, yellow dye No. 6, blue dye No. 1, blue dye No. 2, and green dye No. 3 cannot be used in school lunches, the law states.

Those dyes will also be banned from food products sold in West Virginia starting Jan. 1, 2028, according to the law. Synthetic chemical preservatives propylparaben and butylated hydroxyanisole will also be barred, the governor’s office said in a statement.

“West Virginia ranks at the bottom of many public health metrics, which is why there’s no better place to lead the Make America Healthy Again mission,” Morrisey said in a March 24 statement.

“By eliminating harmful chemicals from our food, we’re taking steps toward improving the health of our residents and protecting our children from significant long-term health and learning challenges.”

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Industry groups spoke against West Virginia’s legislation.

“We stand opposed to this unnecessary legislation. This matter should be decided individually, through product transparency and consumer choice,” the West Virginia Beverage Association posted on social media platform X on March 18.

The National Confectioners Association—a trade group for sellers of chocolate, candy, gum, and mints—said that new regulations will increase food prices and make them less accessible on shelves.

The group said in a statement that there is a role for state legislators to play in the U.S. food system, but that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the “rightful national regulatory decision maker and leader in food safety.”

All color additives must gain FDA approval before they are used in food sold in the United States. Currently, the FDA has approved 36 color additives, including nine synthetic dyes.

Health advocates have long lobbied for state and federal legislation, citing research that links food dyes and other chemical additives to health risks that include escalating symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in some children and animal research tying some additives to cancers.

The European Union, Australia, and Japan, among other nations, have banned or restricted the use of certain food dyes over potential health risks.

Kennedy has pointed out how the U.S. version of Froot Loops contains more artificial colors and additives than versions sold in other countries.

In October 2024, protesters gathered outside the WK Kellogg Co. headquarters in Michigan demanding that the company remove artificial dyes from cereals, including Froot Loops.

Kellogg previously announced it would eliminate artificial colors and ingredients from its U.S. products by 2018, which never happened. The company made the change in other countries, including Canada, where Froot Loops are colored with blueberry juice, concentrated carrot juice, and watermelon juice.

In 2016, Mars announced a plan to eliminate artificial dyes from all its products. The company backed off from the pledge in 2021, removing dyes from some, but not all, products.

“We have found that consumer expectations regarding colors in food differ widely across markets and categories,” the company said.

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Kennedy has noted that two-thirds of Americans suffer chronic health issues today, including a dramatic increase in adult and juvenile diabetes as well as an increase in neurological diseases,  fatty liver disease, and cancer.

“So what’s causing all this suffering? I’ll name two culprits. First and the worst is ultra-processed foods. ... The second culprit is toxic chemicals in our food, our medicine, and our environment,” he said.

He said these ultra-processed foods have chemicals that didn’t exist a century ago, and that they are partly responsible for the rise in disease. Though many of these chemicals are banned in Europe, he noted, they are ubiquitous in American foods.

“We are literally poisoning our children systematically for profit,” he said during a September 2024, roundtable hosted by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). “Pesticides, food additives, pharmaceutical drugs, and toxic waste permeate every cell in our bodies.”

Kennedy has said that dyes are linked to hyperactivity and learning disorders, citing a 2021 report from the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment that reviewed 27 trials in children and concluded food dyes can interfere with normal behavior in some kids.

On March 10, Kennedy met with executives from Kraft Heinz, Kellogg, General Mills, Tyson Foods, Smucker’s, and PepsiCo “on advancing food safety and radical transparency to protect the health of all Americans, especially our children.”

“We will strengthen consumer trust by getting toxins out of our food,” he said in the post on X.

“For far too long, ingredient manufacturers and sponsors have exploited a loophole that has allowed new ingredients and chemicals, often with unknown safety data, to be introduced into the U.S. food supply without notification to the FDA or the public.”

In an email sent after the meeting and viewed by The Epoch Times, the food company trade group Consumer Brands Association stated that Kennedy wanted to work with the industry in a collaborative and non-adversarial fashion.

The health secretary also communicated the Trump administration’s desire to remove artificial dyes such as FD&C blue No. 1 from the food supply, labeling it as an urgent priority to be completed before he exits office.

Kennedy was quoted in the email as saying that he expects “real and transformative” change by “getting the worst ingredients” out of food.
 

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