Following New York Assembly Bill A6424, which was introduced in early 2023 and aims to ban certain additives from use in foods, another piece of state legislation has been proposed regarding food additives regulation. New York Assembly Bill A9295, introduced in February 2024, seeks to establish requirements for the reporting of substances considered “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS).

Bill A9295 would require businesses to notify the State of New York when determining a substance to be GRAS and marketing that chemical in New York. In their notification, businesses would have to submit a summary of evidence for why the substance is safe. These notifications would be published in a public database funded by reporting fees and maintained by New York State.

The bill is designed to combat industry exploiting GRAS determination and adding chemicals to foods without the knowledge of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the state.

The older Bill A6424 has been amended since it was first introduced. Originally, the proposed list of additives to be banned included brominated vegetable oil (BVO), potassium bromate, propylparabens, red dye 3, and titanium dioxide. The list has grown, now including butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and azodicarbonamide.

The New York bills are not the only pieces of state legislation focused on food additives at present. In January 2024, the Illinois Food Safety Act was introduced to ban brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, and red dye 3 from foods sold in the state. Both New York Bill A6424 and the Illinois Food Safety Act follow the California Food Safety Act’s precedent. The California Food Safety Act was passed in October 2024 and, effective January 2027, prohibits the sale of foods containing red dye 3, potassium bromate, brominated vegetable oil, and propylparaben. To learn more about how the California Food Safety Act is shaping U.S. food additives regulation, listen to Episode 162 of the Food Safety Matters Podcast with Brian Sylvester, J.D., Partner in Perkins Coie LLP's Washington D.C. office and a former Attorney-Advisor at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Marketing, Regulatory, and Food Safety Programs Division's Office of the General Counsel.