Food Business News spoke to Claudia Lewis about Utah’s food dye ban. The following is an excerpt:
Utah became the fourth state to ban food and beverages containing certain food colors in public schools, joining California, Virginia and West Virginia.
Utah Governor Spencer J. Cox on March 27 signed House Bill No. 402 into law. The law prohibits food items containing certain food additives from being provided in public schools. The additives are the colors Blue No. 1 and No. 2, Red No. 3 and No. 40, Yellow No. 5 and 6, and Green No. 3, as well as potassium bromate and propylparaben.
At least 20 states are considering banning at least one synthetic dye used to color food and beverages, said Claudia Lewis, a partner in Washington-based Venable LLP. State laws present logistical problems for food and beverage manufacturers.
“As a practical matter, you cannot sell one product containing ‘x’ ingredient in one state but not the other,” Lewis said. “That is very challenging to manage. I imagine that most manufacturers will use the most restrictive state as their basis for deciding how to reformulate. In other words, the most restrictive state may affect what consumers eat in every other state.”
Lewis said she has children and wants their food to be safe.
“However, we should follow the science, and it would be best if we did so in a collaborative way as opposed to on a state-by-state basis with each state coming to their own safety conclusions,” she said. “We all care about our kids, and we should be able to reach a scientific consensus on safety when it comes to what is in their food. Otherwise, there is confusion, and you are not sure what your kids should eat.”
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