Daily Briefing (Insiders Only): Utah Bans Synthetic Dyes in Schools
Et tu, Utah?
Last week, the Beehive State followed California, Virginia and West Virginia in banning certain food additives in public schools.
The new state law prohibits public schools from serving, selling or donating food and beverage products made with Blue No. 1, Blue No. 2, Red No. 3, Red No. 40, Yellow No. 5, Yellow No. 6, Green No. 3, potassium bromate or propylparaben.
The law, which goes into effect for the 2026-27 school year, does not apply to items sold in vending machines or concession stands at school-sponsored events and extracurricular activities.
Similar bills to restrict synthetic dyes are in the works in Hawaii, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Florida, Connecticut and Indiana, but proposed regulations vary, and a state-by-state patchwork could pose major headaches for food manufacturers.
But Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has stated he wants more states to take action and ban food additives. Numerous industry trade groups are defending the safety of dyes, challenging misinformation or calling for a national regulatory framework.
Just how prevalent are synthetic dyes? A recent Wall Street Journal analysis found that more than 1 in 10 food and beverage products contain at least one artificial dye. More than 40% of products with dyes use three or more. Red 40 is used in about 39,000 products. More than half of confectionery products sold in the U.S. have artificial dyes.
Side Note: Utah Gov. Spencer Cox also signed a bill last week outlawing the addition of fluoride in public drinking water, marking the first major ban of its kind. Fluoride has been added to water for eight decades to support dental health; however, Kennedy is leading a push to remove the mineral from all U.S. water systems, claiming it’s linked to arthritis, bone fractures, neurodevelopmental disorders and more.
