California ban 4 food additives linked to disease

On October 7, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 418, known as the California Food Safety Act, into law. The historic legislation bans the “manufacturing, selling, delivering, distributing, holding, or offering for sale” of food products that contain four additives currently found in about 12,000 candies, cereals, and sodas. The contentious bill nabbed attention in spring 2023 for possibly taking Skittles off corner store aisles. But after a revision, the final version of the bill does not include titanium dioxide, the chemical that would have made the rainbow-hued candy into the equation. Still, plenty of products will be affected by the ban including Peeps, most grocery store-made red velvet cupcakes, and more.

The prohibition by law of these additives makes California the first state to enact such a ban. According to Cal Matters, the European Union already outlawed the four additives in question: red dye 3, propylparaben, brominated vegetable oil, and potassium bromate. Consumer Reports co-sponsored the bill, and the nonprofit’s director of food policy Brian Ronholm told the non-profit news outlet that this law is “groundbreaking” and passed with “strong bipartisan support.”

The proposal has been the target of a false claim that California is attempting to ban Skittles. In fact, Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, a Democrat who sponsored the bill, has said that Skittles are sold with alternative ingredients in the European Union, where the four additives are already banned.

"It's unacceptable that the U.S. is so far behind the rest of the world when it comes to food safety," Gabriel said in a statement after Newsom signed the law.

"This bill will not ban any foods or products — it simply will require food companies to make minor modifications to their recipes and switch to the safer alternative ingredients that they already use in Europe and so many other places around the globe," he added.

In a letter about the bill, Gov. Newsom highlighted how Skittles is able to be sold in the European Union with ingredients that adhere to their ban, writing, “There have been many misconceptions about this bill and its impacts. For example, attached to this message is a bag of the popular candy "Skittles," which became the face of this proposal. This particular bag of candy comes from the European Union — a place that already bans a number of chemical additives and colorants. This is demonstrable proof that the food industry is capable of maintaining product lines while complying with different public health laws, country-to-country.”

Daniel Ganjian, MD, a pediatrician at Providence Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif., says that consumers are unlikely to even realize the difference. "There are so many alternatives that the switch will happen quickly, seamlessly, and without an observed difference in taste or appearance," he tells POPSUGAR.

Gabriel says he expects this will have an impact on legislation across the country, noting that he's heard from lawmakers in other states about creating something similar. He also anticipates that companies will just switch their recipes across the country. "It's highly unlikely that someone is going to make one candy for California and another candy for Oklahoma," he says. "This will likely have an impact beyond California."

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Sarah H

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