Texas Legislators Seek to Require Warning Labels on Manufactured Foods

On March 12, 2025, the Texas Senate unanimously passed SB 25, which would require food manufacturers to add warning labels to packaged food products offered for sale in Texas starting as early as January 1, 2027. Upon passage by the Texas Senate, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick stated that SB 25 is a priority bill that would require food labels to warn Texas consumers which ingredients are banned in other countries. As of March 25, 2025, the bill has been referred to the Texas House Committee on Public Health, and we are tracking its progress.

To Who and What Would SB 25 Apply?

SB 25, as currently drafted, contains several initiatives inspired by the Make American Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, such as:

• Daily physician education for Texas children, along with a prohibition on the removal of recess, physical education, or sports practice for disciplinary reasons
• Nutrition education for Texas students and nutrition training for Texas physicians
• The establishment of an independent nutrition advisory council

If SB 25 passes as written, the law would also require new warning labels to be applied to a wide swath of processed foods sold in Texas. The law would apply to any food manufacturer who sells a food product or ingredient intended for human consumption in the state of Texas. However, “prepared food” or “food ready for immediate consumption,” which are defined to include restaurant-type foods, would be exempt from the proposed warning label requirements. 

What Would SB 25 Require?

As currently drafted, SB 25 would require “a warning label disclosing the use of any” of the 50 specific ingredients listed in the bill (list provided below). A manufacturer who sells food using any of those ingredients also would need to include a similar statement or warning on the manufacturer's website. Notably, some of the ingredients on the Texas Legislature’s list are already unlawful in the U.S., such as melatonin (which FDA has repeatedly warned is not generally recognized as safe (GRAS) for use in conventional food), partially hydrogenated oil (aka, trans fat, also not GRAS), or dimethylamylamine (DMAA) (which FDA has cautioned consumers is an unsafe food additive).  

If a food “contains an artificial color, chemical or food additive,” it would have to be labeled with the following statement: 

“WARNING: This product contains an artificial color, chemical or food additive that is banned in Australia, Canada, the European Union or the United Kingdom.”

As the bill is currently written, it does not limit this statement requirement to products that only include artificial colors, chemicals or additives that are in fact banned in other countries.

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