A Texas bill on the verge of becoming law would require labels on packaged food from Skittles to Mountain Dew that warn about ingredients “not recommended for human consumption” by other countries.
Texas Senate Bill 25, backed by Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is now awaiting the signature of Gov. Greg Abbott. Foods containing certain ingredients would require warning labels on new packaging beginning in 2027 in order to be sold in Texas, which is the second-most populous US state with 31 million residents.
The bill lists more than 40 ingredients, including synthetic food dyes and bleached flour. Many, but not all, of the additives are banned or require warnings in other countries.
If approved, the impact on the packaged-food industry could be far reaching: When companies are forced to comply with state regulations, they have often opted to adopt those changes nationwide to streamline production. It would also mark one of the most substantive victories yet for the Make America Healthy Again movement, Kennedy’s signature effort.
The bill’s supporters have said it has Kennedy’s backing: Rep. Lacey Hull, a state lawmaker who was one of the bill’s sponsors in the House, said she received a call from him when it passed the legislature. Abbott has yet to commit to signing the bill, however.
“Governor Abbott will continue to work with the legislature to ensure Texans have access to healthy foods to care for themselves and their families and will thoughtfully review any legislation they send to his desk,” Andrew Mahaleris, his press secretary, said in a statement to Bloomberg News before the bill reached Abbott on June 1. The governor’s office didn’t respond to an updated request for comment.
Texas is seen as one of the most business-friendly states in the US, with no state income tax for individuals and generally a lighter approach to regulations.
If Abbott signs the bill, “he will go down as a historical figure as the man who broke the food industry’s back on these chemicals,” said food activist Vani Hari, also known as Food Babe. “This is something that will spawn incredible change within the food industry.”
HHS didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Carve-Out
The bill contains a possible carve-out: If either the Food and Drug Administration or Department of Agriculture deem an ingredient safe, restrict its use, including by adding their own warning, or ban it outright after Sept. 1, the state’s own labels for that ingredient won’t be required. And if the federal government mandates labeling for “ultra-processed or processed foods,” that would also supersede Texas’ required labels.
But if the FDA, which falls under Kennedy’s jurisdiction, doesn’t declare the listed ingredients safe or offer new qualifications for their use, the warnings would be required for new food labels developed and copyrighted starting in 2027.
While some of the ingredients slated for warning labels, such as titanium dioxide and bleached flour, are more highly regulated in other countries, others, like the emulsifier DATEM, have less stringent regulations.
Affected Foods
A wide range of foods would require a warning label on new packaging to be sold in Texas under the bill, barring changes in formulation. These include Mars Inc.’s Skittles and M&Ms, WK Kellogg Co.’s Froot Loops, PepsiCo Inc.’s Mountain Dew and Nacho Cheese Doritos, which use synthetic dyes.
HHS and the FDA said in April that they’ll work with food producers to eliminate the dyes by the end of 2026. Industry groups have said no agreement exists on the matter.
BHT, a preservative listed in the Texas bill, is found in cereals like General Mills Inc.’s Cinnamon Toast Crunch. BHA, which is also listed, is present in deli meats, but the bill exempts foods regulated by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, which oversees meat, poultry and eggs.
Pastries such as General Mills’ Pillsbury Toaster Strudel and Entenmann’s Little Bites Chocolate Chip Muffins, made by Grupo Bimbo SAB, use bleached flours. Titanium dioxide, used for coloring and shine, is used in Mondelez International Inc.’s Sour Patch Kids Watermelon.
Other products that would be affected include white breads made by Wonder and Sara Lee brands and Campbell’s Company’s Pepperidge Farms, which all use DATEM.
The bill would require the warnings appear in a font size that’s no smaller than the smallest text for other FDA-required information. The wording would need to appear in a “prominent and reasonably visible location” and have “sufficiently high contrast.”
Industry Letter
Industry groups and companies including PepsiCo, Mondelez, Coca-Cola Co., Conagra Brands Inc., and Walmart Inc. sent the Texas legislature a letter dated May 19 urging lawmakers not to pass the initiative.
“As it’s written, the food labeling provision in this bill casts an incredibly wide net — triggering warning labels on everyday grocery items based on assertions that foreign governments have banned such items, rather than on standards established by Texas regulators or by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration,” the companies and groups wrote in the letter.
Conagra declined to comment. The other companies didn’t immediately provide comment to Bloomberg News.
The Consumer Brands Association, an industry group for some of the country’s largest food companies, urged Abbott to veto the bill.
“The ingredients used in the U.S. food supply are safe and have been rigorously studied following an objective science and risk-based evaluation process,” said John Hewitt, senior vice president of state affairs for CBA. “The labeling requirements of SB 25 mandate inaccurate warning language, create legal risks for brands and drive consumer confusion and higher costs.”
Jura Liaukonyte, a professor of marketing and applied economics at Cornell University, said state laws have had a wider impact on the industry in the past, including a Vermont law from about a decade ago that briefly required foods to disclose the use of most genetically modified organisms. This caused some companies to add the labels nationwide, according to her research. Similarly, California’s Proposition 65 product warnings have spread to some products nationwide, she said.
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