(The Center Square) – A bill has passed the Michigan House which would prohibit food distributors from providing schools foods with certain ingredients, including some food dyes and other additives.
House Bill 4369 passed with broad Republican support and the message it’s time to make “Michigan Schools Healthier.”
Out of the 52 House Democrats, 46 voted against the legislation.
Supporters of the legislation said it is important to protect the safety of Michigan’s children, while also ensuring that taxpayer funding is not pushing unhealthy options.
“These ingredients are shown to be harmful and should not be found in food and drink provided by schools on the taxpayer dime,” said Rep. Brad Paquette, R-Marquette and a sponsor of the bill. “Taxpayers do not want their money going to foods with ingredients that inhibit learning.”
The bill would prohibit both public and nonpublic schools from providing foods that contain the following ingredients:
• Brominated vegetable oil: A food additive that had its U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval revoked in July 2024, going into effect August 2025.
• Potassium bromate: A food additive used in baked goods that is not FDA-approved.
• Propylparaben: Used in certain baked goods as a preservative which has been flagged for potential review by the FDA.
• Red 40
• Green 3
• Blue 1
• Blue 2
• Yellow 6
All the dyes are currently approved by the FDA for use in foods, though it did announce in April that it was working with manufacturers in the food industry to phase out the use of these petroleum-based synthetic dyes, many of which are already banned in other countries.
The bill is inspired by the “Make America Again Healthy” movement led by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
It is not the first state-sponsored legislation of its kind. In recent weeks, other states like Texas and Louisiana have both passed similar restrictions on school foods.
Paquette said that Michigan should be sure that its students are receiving healthy foods while at school, especially as taxpayer funding is paying for it.
“In Michigan classrooms, attention spans are going down and prescriptions for powerful medications are going up,” he said. “The foods filling their bellies should, at the very least, not contain ingredients which are known to be detrimental to their health.”
Democrats have expressed concerns that the more natural food alternatives will cost schools too much money.
“We need to have a better understanding of what those overall costs are and have a commitment to make sure we’re actually giving districts the resources that they need in order to be able to afford these things,” said Rep. Erin Byrnes, D-Dearborn, during a committee meeting on the bill in May.
According to an analysis from the House Fiscal Agency, “the bill could create costs for the state and would have an indeterminate fiscal impact.”
While the bill successfully passed the Republican-held House, it is likely to stall in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Yet, if this bill fails, Republicans have also included similar measures in the 2025-2026 School Aid budget, which is currently in negotiations.
