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What foods go away under West Virginia’s ban certain food dye?

Sam Gorski

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed House Bill 2354 on Monday, which will ban the sale and manufacture of foods containing certain food dyes or preservatives in West Virginia.

Although most of the bill does not go into effect until Jan. 1, 2028, what foods will eventually be pulled off store shelves across the state?


What does House Bill 2354 actually do?

In West Virginia, the manufacture or sale of any “adulterated” food or drug in West Virginia is banned through §16-7-1 of the West Virginia state code. House Bill 2354 would classify any food or drug as adulterated if it contains any of the following food dyes or preservatives:

The ban on these chemicals would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2028, so retailers would have a little less than three years to find alternative products to sell instead, and producers would have the same amount of time to comply with the legislation if they wanted to keep selling their products in West Virginia.

The reasoning behind the ban on these dyes is that West Virginia lawmakers say they pose a credible health risk to both children and adults. Although evidence for toxicity in humans is not conclusive for some of these additives, dyes like Red 3 have already been ordered to be removed from food by the Food and Drug Administration because of its links to increased cancer risk.

What foods would be affected?

The banning of these additives would impact hundreds of different food products sold in West Virginia. Americans for Food and Beverage Choice, a food industry lobbying group, claims that about 60% of food in grocery stores would be pulled off store shelves as a result of HB 2354.

It’s also important to note that dyes and additives can have dozens or even hundreds of different synonyms or nicknames, meaning that a dye could be in two different foods but called two different names. This can make it difficult to figure out if an affected dye is in a product you often buy. For example, Blue No. 1, one of the dyes listed in HB 2354, has 112 synonyms.

To see what kind of foods would be affected by the potential ban, 12 News spent one hour in Walmart searching for the additives listed in the bill. During that time, we found 43 different food and beverage items that contained one or more of the dyes listed. A majority of the items that contained the dyes were candy, though other items like sports drinks, cracker packs, lemonade and gum contained the dyes as well.

The full list of items we found is below. Items that contain more than one dye will appear multiple times but are bolded once.

Blue No. 1

Blue No. 1, also known as “acid blue 9” or “brilliant blue” is found in the following foods:

  • M&Ms (WBOY image)
  • Pop Tarts Frosted Blueberry (WBOY image)
  • Haribo Goldbears (WBOY image)
  • Jell-O Chocolate (WBOY image)
  • Glacier Freeze Gatorade (WBOY image)
  • Cool Blue Gatorade (WBOY image)

Blue No. 2

Blue No. 2, also known as “Indigo Carmine,” is found in the following foods:

Red No. 3

Red 3, also known as Erythrosin, is found in the following foods:

Red No. 40

Red No. 40, also known simply as Red 40 or Allura Red, is found in the following foods:

  • Skittle (WBOY image)
  • Luck Charms (WBOY image)
  • Froot Loops (WBOY image)
  • Cosmic Brownies (WBOY image)
  • Fruit Punch Gatorade (WBOY image)
  • Twizzlers (WBOY image)
  • Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (WBOY image)
  • Fritos Flavor Twists Honey BBQ (WBOY image)
  • Nacho Cheese Doritos (WBOY image)

Yellow No. 5

Yellow 5, also known as Tartrazine, is found in the following foods:

  • Mountain Dew (WBOY image)
  • Lemon Lime Gatorade (WBOY image)
  • Orange Gatorade (WBOY image)
  • Minute Maid Lemonade (WBOY image)
  • Smuckers Caramel Sundae Syrup (WBOY image)
  • Tootsie Roll Pops (WBOY image)
  • Lance Cracker Variety Pack (WBOY image)

Yellow No. 6

FD&C Yellow No. 6, also known as Sunset Yellow, is found in the following foods: