(The Center Square) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is being urged to veto a bill that would require food manufacturers to ban several additives in products they sell in the state, which industry officials say will drive up grocery prices.
Lawmakers last week approved a bill that would ban three toxic chemicals — red dye 3, potassium bromate, and propylparaben — from food sold in the state, while requiring manufacturers to disclose other additives.
Backers of the so-called Food Safety and Chemical Disclosure Act, which is Hochul’s desk now awaiting action, said it is focused on boosting transparency and protecting consumers from harmful food additives.
But the Food Ingredient Safety Coalition, an industry-backed group that opposes the changes, said the bill would “create a new level of state bureaucracy on food producers, retailers, and distributors that duplicates existing federal oversight” and increase costs for food and beverage suppliers by more than $1.8 billion. That would end up hiking grocery prices by an estimated 6% at the checkout line, according to the group
“Lawmakers should not be advancing a bill without explaining why they need to create an unnecessary bureaucratic burden when the cost of food is too high as it is,” the group said in a statement.
A study commissioned by the coalition found that the legislation would impose $1.8 billion in “compliance costs” on food supply chain businesses as well as an additional $3.1 billion in increased consumer spending “as prices rise and products disappear from shelves.”
The analysis, conducted by Policy Navigation Group and commissioned by the American Beverage Association, also found that the bill would cost the state an additional $60 million annually just to maintain the state’s school meal and WIC programs at current levels. It projected a 6% increase in grocery costs, amounting to about $620 more per household a year.
“The numbers tell a clear story: this legislation doesn’t just affect industry,” the group said. “It lands directly on the families it claims to protect, through higher prices, fewer choices, and a state budget stretched even thinner.”
Debate over the bill comes as the Trump administration has highlighted the potential health effects of dyes and other food additives as part of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “Make America Healthy Again” campaign.
Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration announced a national initiative to phase out these synthetic dyes, citing links to hyperactivity, behavioral issues in children, and obesity.
But food companies have pushed back against the FDA and Kennedy’s threats of federal intervention, claiming that removing dyes like Red No. 40 and Yellow No. 5 would harm profitability, production efficiency and market stability.
