California bill banning certain food dyes from school meals signed into law

California Governor Gavin Newsome signed A.B. 2316 over the weekend which bans 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. from being used in public school meals. The new law will go into effect December 31, 2027.

The legislation was introduced earlier this year by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, who cited a 2021 report by the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) as the reason for introducing the legislation. The report found that consuming synthetic dyes can cause neurobehavior problems in some children.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has declared the six food dyes safe for consumption but did state on its website that certain children may be more sensitive to the dyes than others.

“The FDA has reviewed and will continue to examine the effects of color additives on children’s behavior,” it wrote. “The totality of scientific evidence indicates that most children have no adverse effects when consuming foods containing color additives, but some evidence suggests that certain children may be sensitive to them. The FDA will continue to evaluate emerging science to ensure the safety of color additives approved for use.”

Some organizations including nonprofit Consumer Reports (who cosponsored the bill), however, say that it has been years since the FDA has evaluated the food dyes for their safety even when new science is available. Red 40, for example, which is used in a range of food products, including cereals, frozen dairy desserts and beverages, has not been evaluated by the FDA since 1971, it argues.  

A bill recently introduced at the federal level by Senator Cory Booker, would require the FDA to reevaluate at least 10 certain food additives with known carcinogenic, reproductive, or developmental health harms, including food dyes. The dyes would be banned from use in school meals until after the revaluation.  

Along with requiring the FDA to food dyes the bill would also ask to find a safe of heavy metals in school meals and ban certain pesticides and Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from school meals and their packaging.