A new bill heading to Governor Greg Abbott’s (R-TX) desk requires famous snack foods to receive a warning label. If signed, the bipartisan measure would take effect in 2027.
According to SB 25, the warning label must read: “WARNING: This product contains an ingredient that is not recommended for human consumption by the appropriate authority in Australia, Canada, the European Union, or the United Kingdom.”
The label must be in a “prominent and reasonably visible location” and have “sufficiently high contrast with the immediate background to ensure the warning is likely to be seen and understood by the ordinary individual under customary conditions of purchase and use.”
Forty-four ingredients are listed as requiring the warning label, including those found in popular candies, soda, chips, cereals, breads, desserts, and processed foods.
Major food companies, such as General Mills, KraftHeinz, PepsiCo Walmart, Coca-Cola, and many others, sent a letter to members of the Texas legislature decrying the bill’s warning label requirement.
“As currently written, the food labeling provision in this bill casts an incredibly wide net—triggering warning labels on everyday grocery items based on assertions that foreign governments have banned such items, rather than on standards established by Texas regulators or by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration,” the letter said.
The companies added that they “have a duty to our millions of customers in Texas, to ensure that they have access to the products they choose at the best possible prices — especially during a time of economic uncertainty and upward price pressures on food products.”
“The proposed state specific labeling mandate could destability local and regional economies at a time when businesses are already fighting to keep prices down, maintain inventory, and avoid layoffs,” the companies wrote.
