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Texas could soon require packaged food and drinks to display prominent warning labels on ingredients that are “not recommended for human consumption” by authorities in the European Union, the UK, Canada, and Australia.
A bipartisan bill, dubbed “Make Texas Healthy Again” and backed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., passed the state senate unanimously last month and was sent to Gov. Greg Abbott to be signed into law.
If signed, the bill would take effect on September 1, 2025, and the new warning labels would be required starting in 2027.
This would apply to 44 ingredients such as synthetic food dyes, bleached flour, and preservatives. Products that would be impacted, barring changes in formulation, include Doritos, Froot Loops, M&Ms, Gatorade, and Mountain Dew.
The mandate would not apply to products not intended for human consumption; food labeled, prepared, or served in restaurants or retail establishments; and drug or dietary supplements. Products regulated by the Food Safety and Inspection Service – which oversees meat, poultry, and eggs – would also be exempt.
Sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup and aspartame had been listed in the bill, but were removed after industry pushback, according to The Texas Tribune.
A coalition of industry groups and companies such as PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP), Mondelez (NASDAQ:MDLZ) and Walmart (NYSE:WMT) called on Texas lawmakers to scrap the new label requirement.
This “casts an incredibly wide net – triggering warning labels on everyday grocery items based on assertions that foreign governments have banned such items, rather than on standards established by Texas regulators or the FDA,” the coalition wrote in a letter last month. They added that the move “could destabilize local and regional economies.”