New Texas Legislation Will Require Warning Labels on Food Products

According to The Washington Post, Texas Governor, Greg Abbott, signed legislation on June 22nd that will require warning labels on food that contain 44 dyes or additives that are commonly found in the country’s food supply. This is the first-of-its-kind legislation and will cause a scramble within the food industry.

Companies within the food industry will need to either reformulate their products to avoid needing a warning label, add the newly mandated language, stop selling their products in Texas, or file a lawsuit against the measure.

This new legislation could have a huge impact on the food industry. It will require warning labels to be on products that contain more than 40 dyes and additives, including bleached flour, red dye 40, and yellow 5. The law will apply to a food product label that is “developed or copyrighted” on or after January 1st, 2027. Food companies will likely want to avoid having to add a warning label onto their products, so they may consider reformulating their products or having products intended just for sale in Texas.

The warning label will be required to be a high-contrast label that is in a prominent and reasonably visible area. The label will need to state: “WARNING: This product contains an ingredient that is not recommended for human consumption by the appropriate authority in Australia, Canada, the European Union, or the United Kingdom.”

In addition to requiring warning labels for over 40 dyes and additives, the bill also includes other “Make America Healthy Again” priorities. The bill is establishing a nutrition advisory committee for the state, updating nutrition training requirements for Texas medical schools, and requiring physical activity during the school day.

Unlike other countries, the United States does not have warning labels on its food products. However, with this new legislation passed in Texas, things are changing within the food and beverage industry. This new legislation comes after the Food and Drug Administration banned red dye No. 3.

Back on January 15th, 2025, the Food and Drug Administration announced that red dye No. 3 will be prohibited in food, drinks, and ingested drugs. Companies and manufacturers have until January 15th, 2027, and January 18th, 2028, to remove the dye from products and reformulate.

Currently, this new legislation doesn’t apply to food being sold at Disneyland or Disney World, but it is possible that other states may also pass similar bills in the future. As well, companies may reformulate products to follow the bill, and those reformulated products could also be sold elsewhere in the United States.

Stay tuned to AllEars for more food news.

FDA Bans Popular Food Ingredient Red Dye No. 3. Here’s What That Means.

What do you think about this new bill? Let us know in the comments!