California Bans 6 Food Dyes in School Foods

“As a lawmaker, a parent, and someone who struggled with ADHD, I find it unacceptable that we allow schools to serve foods with additives that are linked to cancer, hyperactivity, and neurobehavioral harms,” says Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino), the California state assemblyman who authored the bill. 

“This bipartisan law will empower schools to better protect the health and well-being of students and sends a strong message to manufacturers to stop using these harmful additives,” Gabriel says. “I hope that the overwhelming bipartisan support for this new law will encourage the federal government to take a more proactive role in protecting Americans from dangerous chemicals in our food supply.”

The law, which was co-sponsored by Consumer Reports and the Environmental Working Group, goes into effect on Dec. 31, 2027.

It follows the California Food Safety Act, a measure enacted last year in California that banned four food additives in all food sold in the state, including Red Dye No. 3, brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, and propyl paraben.

The California School Food Safety Act could prompt other states to consider similar bans, says Brian Ronholm, director of food policy at CR. Pennsylvania, in fact, is already considering one. 

But John Hewitt, senior vice president for state affairs at the Consumer Brands Association, a trade group, says: “The passage of this bill could cost schools and families money, limit choice and access, and create consumer confusion. The approach taken by California politicians ignores our science- and risk-based process and is not the precedent we should be setting when it comes to feeding our families.”

Ronholm says that the Food and Drug Administration hasn’t reviewed the safety of these six dyes for decades. He hopes that what California has done will spur the federal government to act. “We’ve known for years that synthetic food dyes endanger our health, but the FDA has failed to take action to protect the public,” he says. “Toxic dyes in food that put kids at higher risk for hyperactivity and other neurobehavioral issues that interfere with learning have no place in our schools.”

Ronholm says that some of the dyes no longer allowed in California school foods have been banned in Europe and elsewhere for years.