What foods would go away if West Virginia bans certain food dye?

Yahoo

21-03-2025

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — House Bill 2354, which would ban the sale and manufacture of foods containing certain food dyes or preservatives in West Virginia, is currently sitting on the desk of West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey, though he has not yet signed it into law. However, if the Governor did sign the bill, what foods would be pulled off store shelves across the state?
In West Virginia, the manufacture or sale of any 'adulterated' food or drug in West Virginia is banned through §16-7-1 of the West Virginia state code. House Bill 2354 would classify any food or drug as adulterated if it contains any of the following food dyes or preservatives:
Blue No. 1
Blue No. 2
Green No. 3
Red No. 3
Red No. 40
Yellow No. 5
Yellow No. 6
butylated hydroxyanisole
Propylparaben
The ban on these chemicals would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2028, so retailers would have a little less than three years to find alternative products to sell instead, and producers would have the same amount of time to comply with the legislation if they wanted to keep selling their products in West Virginia.
The reasoning behind the ban on these dyes is that West Virginia lawmakers say they pose a credible health risk to both children and adults. Although evidence for toxicity in humans is not conclusive for some of these additives, dyes like Red 3 have already been ordered to be removed from food by the Food and Drug Administration because of its links to increased cancer risk.
The banning of these additives would impact hundreds of different food products sold in West Virginia. Americans for Food and Beverage Choice, a food industry lobbying group, claims that about 60% of food in grocery stores would be pulled off store shelves as a result of HB 2354.
It's also important to note that dyes and additives can have dozens or even hundreds of different synonyms or nicknames, meaning that a dye could be in two different foods but called two different names. This can make it difficult to figure out if an affected dye is in a product you often buy. For example, Blue No. 1, one of the dyes listed in HB 2354, has 112 synonyms.
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To see what kind of foods would be affected by the potential ban, 12 News spent one hour in Walmart searching for the additives listed in the bill. During that time, we found 43 different food and beverage items that contained one or more of the dyes listed. A majority of the items that contained the dyes were candy, though other items like sports drinks, cracker packs, lemonade and gum contained the dyes as well.
The full list of items we found is below. Items that contain more than one dye will appear multiple times but are bolded once.
Blue No. 1, also known as 'acid blue 9' or 'brilliant blue' is found in the following foods:
Cool Blue Gatorade
Glacier Freeze Gatorade
M&Ms
Kool-Aid Jammers Tropical Punch
Kool-Aid Cherry
Kool-Aid Blue Raspberry Lemonade
Haribo Goldbears
Hershey's Polka Dot Cookies 'n' Creme Chocolate Bunny
Mint Oreos
Great Value Strawberry Watermelon Drink Mix
Great Value Sweet Tea Drink Mix
Mio Energy Acai Berry
Jolly Rancher Original Flavors and Jolly Rancher Gummies Sours
Red Bull The Spring Edition
Jell-O Lime
Skittles
Fritos Flavor Twists Honey BBQ
Wrigley's Extra Spearmint gum
Trident Spearmint gum
5 Gum Peppermint Cobalt
5 Gum Spearmint Rain
Tootsie Roll Pops
Pop Tarts Frosted Blueberry
Pop Tarts Frosted Strawberry
Toaster Strudel Strawberry
Froot Loops
Blue No. 2, also known as 'Indigo Carmine,' is found in the following foods:
Jell-O Chocolate Pudding
Pop Tarts Frosted Blueberry
M&Ms
Skittles
Fritos Flavor Twists Honey BBQ
Red 3, also known as Erythrosin, is found in the following foods:
Cosmic Brownies
Red No. 40, also known simply as Red 40 or Allura Red, is found in the following foods:
Nacho Cheese Doritos
Fruit Punch Gatorade
Sunkist Orange
Flamin' Hot Cheetos
Froot Loops
Lucky Charms
Pop Tarts Frosted Strawberry
Toaster Strudel Strawberry
Tootsie Roll Pops
Twizzlers
Pop Tarts Frosted Blueberry
Jell-O Chocolate Pudding
Smuckers Caramel Sundae Syrup
M&Ms
Jolly Rancher Original Flavors and Jolly Rancher Gummies Sours
Hershey's Polka Dot Cookies 'n' Creme Chocolate Bunny
Skittles
Haribo Goldbears
Great Value Strawberry Watermelon Drink Mix
Great Value Sweet Tea Drink Mix
Mio Energy Acai Berry
Cosmic Brownies
Fritos Flavor Twists Honey BBQ
Yellow 5, also known as Tartrazine, is found in the following foods:
Mountain Dew
Minute Maid Lemonade
Lemon Lime Gatorade
Utz Cheese Balls
Ruffles Cheddar & Sour Cream
Haribo Goldbears
Fritos Flavor Twists Honey BBQ
Nacho Cheese Doritos
Jolly Rancher Original Flavors and Jolly Rancher Gummies Sours
M&Ms
Froot Loops
Tootsie Roll Pops
Skittles
Jell-O Chocolate Pudding
Jell-O Lime
Flamin' Hot Cheetos
Cosmic Brownies
Mint Oreos
Great Value Sweet Tea Drink Mix
5 Gum Spearmint Rain
FD&C Yellow No. 6, also known as Sunset Yellow, is found in the following foods:
Lance variety cracker pack
Orange Gatorade
Mio Orange Vanilla
Smuckers Caramel Sundae Syrup
Utz Cheese Balls
Ruffles Cheddar & Sour Cream
Fritos Flavor Twists Honey BBQ
Sunkist Orange
Lucky Charms
Pop Tarts Frosted Strawberry
Jolly Rancher Original Flavors and Jolly Rancher Gummies Sours
M&Ms
Skittles
Froot Loops
Cosmic Brownies
Nacho Cheese Doritos
Flamin' Hot Cheetos
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