Food Industry Associations File Lawsuit Against Texas Warning Label Law for Additives
A federal lawsuit has been filed by four food industry associations challenging part of a new Texas law, which would require a warning label for food products containing one of 44 additives.
Plaintiffs include the American Beverage Association, the Consumer Brands Association, the National Confectioners Association, and FMI—the Food Industry Association. The lawsuit alleges that Section 9 of Texas Senate Bill 25 (SB 25):
- Violates the First Amendment by requiring businesses to repeat the “misleading” warning label, which falsely states that certain foreign authorities have deemed the targeted ingredients as “not recommended for human consumption,” and in some cases, falsely states that the ingredients are unauthorized by foreign authorities
- Is preempted by federal law, conflicting with the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act’s (FFDC’s) definition of “misbranding,” the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) regulations on labeling of artificial and chemical ingredients, and the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act’s standards for food labeling.
- Is too vague in its wording, leaving businesses unable to know with reasonable certainty whether the warning label applies to their products
- Violates the constitutional Commerce Clause by forcing businesses nationwide to adapt their products to Texas’ rules.
The plaintiffs request that the court prevent Texas from enforcing the Section 9 warning label requirement of SB 25.
Details of Texas SB 25's Warning Label Law
Signed into law on June 22, 2025, Section 9 of Texas SB 25 targets the following chemical ingredients, including several food dyes: acetylated esters of mono- and diglycerides (acetic acid ester), anisole, azodicarbonamide (ADA), butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), bleached flour, blue 1, blue 2, bromated flour, calcium bromate, canthaxanthin, citrus red 2, diacetyl, diacetyl tartaric and fatty acid esters of mono- and diglycerides (DATEM), dimethylamylamine (DMAA), dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate (DSS), ficin, green 3, interesterified palm oil, interesterified soybean oil, lactylated fatty acid esters of glycerol and propylene glycol, lye, morpholine, olestra, partially hydrogenated oil (PHO), potassium aluminum sulfate, potassium bromate, potassium iodate, propylene oxide, propylparaben, red 3, red 4, red 40, sodium aluminum sulfate, sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium stearyl fumarate, stearyl tartrate, synthetic trans fatty acid, thiodipropionic acid, titanium dioxide, toluene, yellow 5, and yellow 6.
By January 2027, the law requires food products containing any of the 44 targeted ingredients to be labeled as follows: “WARNING: This product contains an ingredient that is not recommended for human consumption by the appropriate authority in Australia, Canada, the EU, or the UK.”
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