State Sen. Emily Jordan, R-Isle of Wight, is sponsoring legislation that would ban seven color additives in food served at public schools.

The bill, dubbed Senate Bill 1289, had as of Jan. 30 advanced unanimously out of the Senate Committee on Education and Health.

On Jan. 15, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration revoked authorization for the use of FD&C Red No. 3, also known as erythrosine or Red 3, citing the Delaney Clause – a 1958-enacted clause of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic, or FD&C, Act named for former U.S. Rep. James Delaney, D-New York, banning any additive found to cause cancer in humans or animals at any dose.

The revocation, according to the FDA, was in response to a 2022 petition that requested a Delaney Clause review, which cited two studies from 1987 showing Red 3 – found primarily in candies, cakes, cupcakes and some brands of strawberry milk – to cause cancer in male laboratory rats when the rats were exposed to high levels of the additive due to a rat-specific hormonal mechanism.

Per the new FDA rule, manufacturers who use Red 3 in food will have until Jan. 15, 2027, to reformulate their products.

Jordan’s bill would go beyond the FDA rule in requiring that six additional additives be banned from food served in schools by July 1, 2027. These include FD&C Blue No. 1 and No. 2, Green No. 3, Red. No. 40, and Yellow No. 5 and No. 6.

Specifically, it would direct the Virginia Board of Education to amend its nutritional guidelines.

California, which in 2023 became the first state to ban Red 3, passed a law in 2024 similar to Jordan’s bill that banned the six additional additives after a 2021 state report linked the consumption of synthetic food dies to a 20-year rise in children and teenagers diagnosed with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD.

“Working with concerned parents I developed legislation that will prohibit Virginia public schools from serving and selling foods containing harmful synthetic food dye additives that have been linked to health harms in children, including cancer, damage to the immune system, neurobehavioral issues, and hyperactivity,” Jordan said in a Jan. 17 newsletter to her constituents. “Fostering healthy lifestyle habits at an early age is vital to future success. Virginia can be a leader in protecting our kids from dangerous chemicals that may harm their bodies and interfere with their ability to learn. We must empower our schools to further protect the health and well-being of our students by ensuring these harmful additives are not in the food we serve. I hope there will be overwhelming bipartisan support for this legislation as we take a role in protecting students from dangerous chemicals in our food supply.”

Red 3 was first listed in the FDA’s color additive regulations in 1969, though the coloring had already been in use in foods by that time for more than 50 years. The U.S. Department of Agriculture first approved the additive, which is derived from petroleum, in 1907, according to the FDA’s website. The FDA previously banned Red 3 in cosmetics in 1990. 

Blue No. 1, which the FDA approved as a food dye in 1993, is most commonly found in cereals, juice and soft drinks, popsicles and frosting, according to a 2021 study archived in the National Library of Medicine. Though industry-sponsored studies didn’t find evidence of a link to cancer, the dye was found to be related to skin irritation and difficulty breathing, the 2021 study states.

Blue No. 2, which the FDA approved in 1983, is most commonly found in baked goods, cereals, snack foods and ice cream and “cannot be considered safe for human consumption” based on a “statistically significant increase” in brain and breast tumors observed in rats, the 2021 study states. 

According to a 2023 study archived in the National Library of Medicine, Red No. 40 and Yellows No. 5 and No. 6 account for 90% of all dyes used in the United States, and over 40% of foods marketed to children in the U.S. contain one or more of these dyes, which are used primarily in beverages, frozen treats, gelatin products, candies and icings, among other foods. The 2023 study linked Red No. 40, combined with a high-fat diet, to inflammation of the colon in mice, noting use of synthetic food colorings over the past 40 years has coincided with a rise in colorectal cancer in people under age 50.

Yellow No. 5, according to a 2007 study, is a nitrous derivative also known as tartrazine and is “known to cause” allergic reactions and asthma based on studies in rats. It received FDA authorization in 1969. Red No. 40 and Yellow No. 5 and No. 6, the latter of which received FDA approval in 1986, have been “found to be contaminated with benzidine or other carcinogens” according to a 2012 study. Yellow 5 and 6 are found in popular candies such as M&Ms, Jelly Beans and some brands of shelf-stable popcorn, among other foods.

Isle of Wight County Schools spokeswoman Lynn Briggs said the division is monitoring the progress of the Jordan’s bill and, should it advance out of the Senate, will begin investigating the potential impact on the division’s food offerings. Last year, IWCS brought its food services back in house after five years of outsourcing.