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.
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.
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.
“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.”
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.
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.
“We have found that consumer expectations regarding colors in food differ widely across markets and categories,” the company said.
“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.”
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.
Immediately after Kennedy was sworn in on Feb. 13, he was tasked with heading up a commission primarily focused on childhood health.
The commission directs executive departments and federal agencies to primarily advise the president on how to “address the childhood chronic disease crisis.”
It is tasked to explore contributing causes to childhood chronic diseases such as “the American diet, absorption of toxic material, medical treatments, lifestyle, environmental factors, government policies, food production techniques, electromagnetic radiation, and corporate influence or cronyism.”
Within 100 days—by May 22—the commission will deliver an initial assessment of potential factors that contribute to the chronic disease epidemic, the order states. A national Make Our Children Healthy Again strategy will be presented within 180 days.
In January, in the final days of the Biden administration, the FDA banned red No. 3 from America’s food supply and established a 2027 deadline for manufacturers to remove it from their products.
Companies that make cough syrups and other ingested drugs have until January 2028 to comply.
Red No. 3, which is made with petroleum, was approved for foods in 1907.
“The FDA cannot authorize a food additive or color additive if it has been found to cause cancer in human or animals,” Jim Jones, the FDA’s deputy director for human foods, said in a statement after the announcement. “Evidence shows cancer in laboratory male rats exposed to high levels of FD&C Red No. 3.”
Del Bigtree, communications director for Kennedy’s presidential campaign and founder of the MAHA Action PAC, told The Epoch Times that he believes Kennedy and the MAHA movement started playing a significant role even before the current administration took over.
“The Biden administration knew that America’s health departments were about to undergo a transformation, and they wanted to do something before leaving,” Bigtree said.
“Without the movement, and Bobby becoming Secretary of Health and Human Services, there would still be talk about getting chemicals out of our food supply, but that’s all it would be—just talk.”
Samantha Rayburn, a 40-year-old mother of two teenage sons, said Kennedy’s focus on addressing the chronic disease epidemic in America is long overdue.
“Removing food dyes alone has a powerful impact on a child in a positive way. I know that from personal experience,“ Rayburn told The Epoch Times. ”When you go to the grocery store and look at the ingredients in most of the items on the shelves, it’s not healthy.
“These chemicals are contributing to so many health problems. I’m happy that steps are finally being taken to give us healthier options.
“There is a long road ahead, and it will likely take a few years for substantial progress to be made, but what happened in West Virginia, and all of these bills in the other states, is a promising start.”
