Cascading state regulations confront bakers

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. – A minority of states have passed laws in recent months restricting certain ingredients and imposing responsibilities regarding packaging on companies, but the reach of the laws is far wider and necessitates the broad attention of the US baking industry, said William Dumais III, ABA’s state affairs manager.

Dumais offered an update on state level issues of concern to the baking industry April 16 in a presentation during the annual meeting of the American Bakers Association at the Westin Kierland Resort & Spa in Scottsdale. The update was the second informal breakfast presentation at the meeting – “The Gist Breakfast: State Policy Impacting the Baking Industry.”

California, Illinois, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania are among states with legislative activity in the works, Dumais said.

“Regardless of whether your company has a physical presence in any of these states, it’s likely your company’s products are sold in these states that are considering ingredient ban legislation,” he said. The issue should be of concern to bakers with products sold at retail, foodservice and quick service restaurant foodservice, he added.

Dumais devoted most of his presentation to ingredient bans, beginning with California AB 418, signed into law last October by Governor Gavin Newsom. The law will prohibit the use of brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, and Red No. 3 in food manufactured, sold, delivered, distributed, held or offered for sale in California after Jan. 1, 2027.  

“Since then, other states have looked to California as an example, and we’ve seen a proliferation of introductions of ingredient ban bills across the states,” Dumais said. “While many have been modeled on the California bill, there are some differences. States go their own way and have their own way of doing things and focus.”

Dumais called the Illinois bill a successor to the California law. He said the ABA is working with a coalition opposing the bill. 

While the legislation has attracted opposition within Illinois, Dumais described its status as “touch and go.”

In New York, the state legislature appears intent to issue its own standards for what constitutes Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS), Dumais said.

He said Pennsylvania’s approach has been through the introduction of two separate bills – HB 2116, which would ban numerous food dyes, and HB 2117, which targets potassium bromate, brominated vegetable oil and beta hydroxy acids (BHA).

As concerning as the various copycat proposals may be, Dumais said bakers should not lose track of what he called a California bill that would prohibit products containing food additives from being sold in California schools, including titanium dioxide, an ingredient not included in the state’s first bill.

“It (AB 2316) shows that state governments once they’ve enacted restrictions are willing to take the next step and go further,” Dumais said. “You’ve seen now California’s example of saying, ‘We’ve already introduced a ban on certain ingredients. Let’s go a step further.’”

A second area of regulatory focus for the ABA has been around sustainability and packaging, Dumais said. Laws passed focus on plastic waste and end-of-life management for certain products of concern.

Meanwhile, the states of California, Colorado, Maine and Oregon have passed Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) packing legislation, holding producers accountable for the lifecycle of their products.

“They are in the process of rulemaking and determining how producers will comply with the law, which will entail reporting requirements and data collection,” Dumais said, “and within the next year, companies will be required to register and comply with the laws in some states.”

A central part of the ABA’s engagement on the packaging issues has been through its membership in and involvement with AMERIPEN, a group that represents the North American packaging value chain, generating science-based information and advocating on behalf of its members on issues related to packaging and the environment. Dumais said the ABA leverages AMERIPEN to capture the concerns of its members, noting the baking industry “has unique needs and considerations” when it comes to packaging.

Around the corner may be similar laws passed in Illinois and Maryland, states that Dumais said have passed what he called “groundwork legislation” but have not yet passed EPR laws.