Taking effect by the 2026–2027 school year, the Arizona Healthy Schools Act has been signed into law, banning “ultra-processed foods,” defined as foods containing any one of 11 artificial food dyes and additives, from being sold in schools.
With the passage of House Bill 81, Utah will ban the addition of fluoride to public drinking water systems beginning May 7, 2025. Community water fluoridation has come under scrutiny in recent years due to concerns about its affect on children’s IQ.
Mississippi has become the third U.S. state to ban cell-based food products with the passage of House Bill 1006. As of July 1, 2025, it will be illegal to sell or distribute any cultivated food product in the state.
California Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel has introduced a bill that aims to define and identify “ultra-processed foods” so that they can be phased out of state public schools.
South Dakota has joined the list of states with legislation targeting cell-based meat, which includes Florida and Alabama, by recently passing a law that prohibits the award or use of state funds for the research, production, promotion, sale, or distribution of cell-cultured protein.
Arizona House Bill 2164, aiming to ban 11 chemicals and colorants, has passed the state House and has moved onto the Senate. Similar bills are currently progressing in West Virginia and Texas.
Introduced by Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), the Senate Bill 667, named the Safer Shrimp Imports Act, would require FDA to ensure that food safety inspections for shrimp in importing countries meet standards equivalent to those upheld in the U.S.
Citing concerns that the Trump Administration could roll back or weaken Biden-era EPA drinking water standards for PFAS, a bill has been introduced in California that would set state-level limits for harmful “forever chemicals” that are at least as protective as current federal standards.
This episode of Food Safety Five covers a new EU regulation that limits PFAS in food packaging and bans single-use plastics for fruit and vegetables under a certain weight, among other changes. Also discussed is a bill introduced to the New York State legislature to ban certain food additives and tighten requirements for GRAS ingredients.
A partisan House bill sponsored by U.S. Representatives Tracey Mann (R-KS) and Steve Womack (R-AK) aims to block USDA from using federal funds to implement its proposed regulatory framework for Salmonella in raw poultry products, the goal of which is to reduce foodborne salmonellosis cases.
