The New York legislature has passed a new Food Safety and Chemical Disclosure Act, which aims to ban three substances from food manufactured or sold in the state:
- The red food colour FD&C Red 3 (erythrosine or E127 in the EU, a colour banned from all foods but cocktail and candied cherries)
- Potassium bromate (a substance that helps bread rise but which is banned in the EU)
- Propylparaben (a preservative also banned in food in the EU)
The bill would also require industry to disclose the use of ingredients which have been ‘Generally recognised as safe (GRAS)’ which may not have been sufficiently evaluated for safety.
The bill was passed by the Assembly and Senate on April 21st 2026 and the bill is now before Governor Kathy Hochul.
The New York food additive ban would take immediate effect once the bill is signed, but retailers would be allowed to sell foods containing in-scope substances until their expiration or best-by date, not to exceed three years beyond the legislation’s enactment. The GRAS portion of the bill would take effect one year after signing.
This will bring New York in line with California where a similar bill was passed in October 2023. The impact of legislation in states will hopefully ripple across the US and the world as companies find it less and less attractive to use additives in food and drink that they cannot sell across some areas.
May 6th 2026
