Some popular foods may soon require warning labels in Texas
(Photo by Zhang Na/Xinhua via Getty Images)
AUSTIN, Texas - The next time a Texan buys a Mountain Dew or a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos, they might find a warning that it contains ingredients that other countries say shouldn't be eaten.
Artificial food dyes and chemicals
Senate Bill 25 currently sits on Gov. Greg Abbott's desk awaiting his signature. The bill would require products that contain certain food additives to have a warning label that says those additives are "not recommended for human consumption by the appropriate authority in Australia, Canada, the European Union, or the United Kingdom." The warning label must be placed in a "prominent and reasonably visible" location on the packaging and must be easily readable on the background of the packaging.
The bill would only apply to packages produced after Jan. 1, 2027.
More than 40 ingredients that could trigger the warning label under the Make Texas Healthy Again bill.
READ MORE: FDA aims to eliminate petroleum-based synthetic dyes in food by end of 2026
The ingredients that would trigger the warning label include:
- Acetylayed esters of mono- and diglycerides (acetic acid ester)
- Anisole
- Azodicarbonamide (ADA)
- Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA)
- Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT)
- Bleached flour
- Blue 1 (CAS 3844-45-9)
- Blue 2 (CAS 860-22-0)
- Bromated flour
- Calcium bromate
- Canthaxanthin
- Certified food colors by the United States Food and Drug Administration
- Citrus red 2 (CAS 6358-53-8)
- Diacetyl
- Diacetyl tartaric and fatty acid esters of mono- and diglycerides (DATEM)
- Dimethylamylamine (DMAA)
- Dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate (DSS)
- Ficin
- Green 3 (CAS 2353-45-9)
- Interesterified palm oil
- Interesterified soybean oil
- Lactylated fatty acid esters of glycerol and propylene glycol
- Lye
- Morpholine
- Olestra
- Partially hydrogenated oil (PHO)
- Potassium aluminum sulfate
- Potassium bromate
- Potassium iodate
- Propylene oxide
- Propylparaben
- Red 3 (CAS 16423-68-0)
- Red 4 (CAS 4548-53-2)
- Red 40 (CAS 25956-17-6)
- Sodium aluminum sulfate
- Sodium lauryl sulfate
- Sodium stearyl fumarate
- Stearyl tartrate
- Synthetic trans fatty acid
- Thiodipropionic acid
- Titanium dioxide
- Toluene
- Yellow 5 (CAS 1934-21-0)
- Yellow 6 (CAS 2783-94-0)
More exercise
Beyond the food warning labels, SB25 mandates more time for health and exercise in public schools.
Currently, students in grades six, seven and eight are required to participate in four semesters of at least 30 minutes of physical activity daily. That number would increase to six semesters under SB 25.
Nutrition education
In higher education, students in an undergraduate degree program would be required to take a class in nutrition education as developed by the Texas Nutrition Advisory Committee.
The committee would be appointed by the governor by Dec. 31, 2025.
The seven-member committee would at least include:
- One expert in metabolic health, culinary medicine, lifestyle medicine, or integrative medicine
- One licensed physician certified in functional medicine
- One member representing the Texas Department of Agriculture
- One member representing a rural community
- One member representing an urban community
- One pediatrician specializing in metabolic health
Doctors and nurses would be required to complete continuing education on nutrition and metabolic health in order to remain licensed in Texas.
The Source: Information on Senate Bill 25 comes from the Texas Legislature. Information on products containing artificial dyes comes from those individual ingredient labels.