West Virginia: HB2354
Banning certain products from food in West Virginia
Topics
No topics available
Bill Information
Summary
Bill Summary
HB 2354 amends West Virginia’s adulterated food and drug law to declare that foods containing specified synthetic dyes and additives—Red 3, Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 3, plus preservatives BHA and propylparaben—are adulterated and thus banned from manufacture, sale, or offer for sale in the state beginning January 1, 2028. It also creates §18‑5D‑3A, which, effective August 1, 2025, prohibits those seven dyes from being used in any meal served in a school nutrition program, while allowing limited fundraising exemptions (off‑premises or after school) and carving out that small sellers (under $5,000/month of affected products) are not subject to criminal penalties for selling otherwise‑banned items.
Why It Matters to the Make America Healthy Again Movement
The MAHA Movement supports this law because it makes West Virginia the first state to broadly ban most FDA‑approved synthetic food dyes and certain preservatives from both school meals and, by 2028, the general food supply—mirroring MAHA’s call to treat these additives as “injurious to health” and to push ultra‑processed ingredients out of everyday foods. By hard‑coding these dyes and preservatives into the adulteration statute, with a strong school‑meal first step and a later full retail ban, HB 2354 aligns with MAHA’s strategy of using state power to force a cleaner, dye‑free, lower‑additive food environment for children and families.
Introduced
02/13/2025
In Committee
02/21/2025
Crossed Over
02/28/2025
Passed
03/14/2025
Enacted
03/24/2025
Sponsors
Adam Burkhammer
Republican Representative (WV)
Ian Masters
Republican Representative (WV)
David Elliott Pritt
Republican Representative (WV)
Evan Worrell
Republican Representative (WV)
Mike Hite
Republican Representative (WV)
Margitta Mazzocchi
Republican Representative (WV)
Eric Brooks
Republican Representative (WV)
Chuck Horst
Republican Representative (WV)