United States: California has made a new law. This law says that public schools in California cannot serve certain foods that have six artificial colors. These colors can be bad for children’s health and can cause problems with their behavior. California is the first state to make this rule.
Gavin Newsom already in on Saturday signed the California School Food Safety Act. Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Blue 2 and Green 3 will be prohibited from being used as meals, drinks and snacks in school cafeterias across the state but the law will not come into force until December 31, 2027.
As the information gathered by Health Day, “Our health depends on the food we consume — quality fresh and healthy foods are not always accessible or affordable to families,”, Newsom wrote during a press release after signing YET55 into law.
Today, we are not willing to put up with things as they are and making it possible to supply and let any individual, including school going children, wholesome, good food that is yummy without toxic and usually addictive chemicals. Across the lifespan, we are stronger when children get a good start with the nutrients that can help them avoid obesity and chronic diseases in the future.”
The bill was introduced in March this year by Democratic Assembly member Jesse Gabriel and comes three years after a state report indicated that ingesting synthetic food dyes causes hyperactivity and neurobehavioral disorders in some children.
In their research, the authors of the report found that, “Taken together, our own meta-analysis of human studies… supports that synthetic food dyes provokes negative neurobehavioral reactions like inattention, hyperactivity, and restlessness in children who are sensitive.”
“Specifically, the available studies demonstrate that there are effects arising from food dye use that link it to negative behavioral effects in children with [ADHD] and children without [ADHD].”
Also, Gabriel was thrilled with the singing of the new law.
California is once again leading the nation when it comes to protecting our kids from the dangerous chemicals that can harm their bodies and interfere with their ability to learn and also he said in the Governer’s news release on the law and this bipartisan law will empower school to better protect the health and the well-being of the students and sends a strong message to the manufacturers to stop using these harmful additives.”
And here most importantly the law only requires manufacturers to remove the artificial dyes in their recipes and replace them with the natural alternatives and such as the carrot beet juice and the many companies already do that for the consumers in the European Union and other places that prohibit synthetic colors in the food and the drinks, NBC reported.