The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas has issued a preliminary injunction against a Texas law that would require warning labels for food products that contain certain food additives.

Specifically, Section 9 of Texas Senate Bill (SB) 25 would require food and beverage manufacturers to include explicit warning labels on products that contain any of 44 listed ingredients, including several different food dyes, propylparaben, butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), and titanium dioxide.

The court decision was made in response to a motion for preliminary injunction filed by the American Beverage Association, the National Confectioners’ Association, and FMI—the Food Industry Association.  

The plaintiffs alleged that Section 9 of SB 25 violates the First Amendment by unconstitutionally compelling speech, which was the basis on which the court issued the temporary injunction. The court held that, because SB 25 mandates warning labels to communicate a specific message, it is a content-based regulation of speech that is subject to strict scrutiny under the law.

“While Texas’s interest in supporting the healthiness of food sold in its state, it does not have an interest in enforcing a law that likely violates the First Amendment,” the court decision said.

Texas is prohibited from enforcing Section 9 of SB 25 against the plaintiff or their members while the case proceeds.