Pennsylvania Proposes Food Additives Ban for Alleged Safety

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Pennsylvania Proposes to Ban Certain Food Additives

by: Food and Drug Law at Keller and Heckman of Keller and Heckman LLP - The Daily Intake

Friday, March 22, 2024

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On March 18, 2024, Pennsylvania became the latest state to propose a ban of several food additives, citing alleged safety.
Pennsylvania’s HB 2116 proposes to ban the use of the following color additives: red 3, red 40, yellow 5, yellow 6, blue 1, and blue 2. As a companion bill, HB 2117 would prohibit the use of potassium bromate, brominated vegetable oil, and butylated hydroxyanisole.
As we have previously reported, California passed AB 418 in 2023, which bans the use of brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, and red 3 in any food product and goes into effect in 2027. AB 418 originally proposed to ban titanium dioxide as well, but it was removed from the scope of this legislation by the state Senate on September 1, 2023 before reaching the Governor’s desk. Other states have followed suit in proposing to ban these AB 418 substances (see Illinois’ SB 2637, New York’s S60551A, and New Jersey’s A5436, though California’s AB 418 is the only one yet to pass). Titanium dioxide is also included in New York’s and New Jersey’s bills.
Recently, California also proposed AB 2316, which would prohibit all public schools from offering, selling, or otherwise providing any food containing the following color additives: blue 1, blue 2, green 3, red 40, yellow 5, yellow 6, and titanium dioxide.
In response to Pennsylvania’s legislation, the National Confectioners Association (NCA) has emphasized that the substances in question are cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). NCA recently called on FDA to push back on state-by-state food safety policy and “assert its authority as the rightful national regulatory decision maker and leader in food safety.”