Why Texas' new food law is being challenged by industry groups
Ben Williams
Featured Image Credit: lechatnoir/Getty Images
Shoppers strolling through Texas supermarket aisles may notice little more than the familiar glow of chilled cabinets and a growing emphasis on health-conscious packaging.
Over recent months, the state has taken visible steps to align itself with wider national efforts to confront obesity, diabetes, and diet-related disease.
Policymakers have championed a push toward clearer nutrition messaging, and many food companies have already begun preparing for product tweaks to keep pace with shifting expectations. Yet beneath these routine adjustments, tension has been brewing. Executives across the food and beverage sector say they have been forced to confront a looming requirement that, in their view, stretches far beyond what public health demands.
It is just after this point in the legislation that the alarm bells started ringing: the package-labelling rule at the heart of Senate Bill 25.
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The new state law requires warning labels for any ingredients not recommended for human consumption by governments in Australia, Canada, the European Union or the United Kingdom - including food dyes and preservatives - saying it violates the free speech rights of companies, while also creating the potential to confuse consumers.
It is this clause, rather than the broader Make America Healthy Again agenda, that has propelled several major trade groups into court.
The American Beverage Association, the Consumer Brands Association, the National Confectioners Association, and the Food Industry Association argue that the rule compels companies to make claims not supported by evidence and therefore violates the First Amendment. They point out that several ingredients captured by the requirement are widely used and permitted by the very foreign regulators the law references.
Among the examples they cite are: lye, used in pretzels, tamales, tortillas, and sopas; Acetylated Esters of Monoglycerides, which prevent oil and vinegar from separating; and Acetylated Esters of Diglycerides, relied upon to stabilise dough, spreads, and ice cream.
According to the lawsuit, none of these additives has been found harmful.
“The listed ingredients have been used safely in American foods and beverages for decades,” the complaint says.
“Section 9’s warning requirement compels businesses to tell Texas consumers that the enumerated ingredients are 'not recommended for human consumption' abroad — even when that isn’t true.”
Debate over the issue had already surfaced in the Texas Legislature earlier in the year. House sponsor Lacey Hull responded to concerns by removing high fructose corn syrup and aspartame from the list of ingredients subject to the warning, following requests from major Texas brands.
However, supporters of the rule maintain that it is central to improving dietary transparency.
As bill author Sen. Lois Kolkhorst put it, as reported by Austin American-Statesman: “The choice being: you’re going to put the label on your food, or you’re going to take those additives out of your food.”
Industry groups, however, argue that the requirement risks misleading consumers rather than informing them, setting the stage for a protracted legal fight over how far states can go in regulating what appears on a food label.