What do an organic farmer from upstate New York, a social worker from the South Bronx, a liberal nutritionist from Ithaca and a Republican sausage-maker in Otsego County have in common?
They all support a state bill that marries blue-state regulatory muscle with “Make America Healthy Again,” the Robert F. Kennedy Jr.-led movement that mixes a preference for natural foods with debunked theories about the dangers of modern medicine.
The bill focuses on the former: If enacted, it would ban certain food dyes and force companies that sell packaged foods to disclose more information on additives in their products.
The bill’s advocates say New York should step up because Washington — and specifically, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration — hasn’t done its job regulating many of the products that find their way onto store shelves and into consumers’ mouths. But they’re making their push at a time when Kennedy has taken the reins of the federal Department of Health and Human Services — and has enlisted it in his charge to overhaul the pharmaceutical and food manufacturing sectors.
Assemblymember Anna Kelles, a Democrat from Ithaca with a doctorate in nutritional epidemiology, said a righteous cause draws allies from across the political spectrum.
“When you have something that is obviously true and people in the public find out there are an estimated 10,000 chemicals in their food supply that they’re not told about, they get really pissed off,” Kelles said. “There are topics that are bipartisan, especially when the problem is so blatant, and this is one of them.”
The legislation concerns a food industry standard known as GRAS, or “generally recognized as safe.” When the FDA first started regulating food additives in 1958, it included an exception for common ingredients that didn’t require testing. This included things like vinegar, canola oil and black pepper.
Over time, companies started expanding the GRAS designation to cover more items, according to Jensen Jose, regulatory counsel for the advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest. Since 1997, companies have been able to conduct their own research into a substance’s effects and give it the generally safe designation. They’re encouraged to disclose their work to the FDA, but it’s not required.
“The FDA, you know, put up its hands … More and more, we realized that the victories are in states,” he said, pointing to bans on food dyes in states like California and West Virginia.
But standards may also be changing on the federal level, where Kennedy’s HHS has seen dramatic departures from precedent by requiring placebo studies for vaccine approval and reviewing decades-old recommendations for the use of fluoride in public drinking water.
In March, Kennedy directed the FDA to examine its GRAS rules to close what he called “a loophole that has allowed new ingredients and chemicals, often with unknown safety data, to be introduced into the U.S. food supply.” Asked about the related bill in New York, an agency spokesperson said he supported efforts that aligned with his mission.
Kelles’ bill would require companies to report any GRAS substances in food they sell to the state Department of Agriculture and Markets, along with the scientific studies which demonstrated that they are safe. That agency would then create a public database of the information. This first-in-the-nation measure would allow scientists to evaluate data and push for further regulation as needed, Jose said.
The legislation would also ban three additives: Red #3, potassium bromate and propylparaben. The substances aren’t approved for use in Europe over concerns they could cause cancer or endocrine problems in high concentrations.
Food industry groups united last year to lobby against a prior attempt to ban those additives and several others. They oppose Kelles’ bill, too, arguing that their existing regulatory practices are already sufficient.
“This type of legislation shifts food safety decisions away from qualified scientists and regulatory experts and creates a patchwork of inconsistent requirements that will increase costs, create confusion around food safety, and erode consumer trust,” says a letter circulated to legislators last year from groups including National Confectioners Association, which represents candymakers, the American Bakers Association and the Consumer Brands Association, which represents packaged goods.
John Hewitt, a senior vice president at the Consumer Brands Association, said food additives help ensure products are safe, nutritious and fresh for consumers to buy. Members of that group employ more than 100,000 people in New York, and the association spends $5,000 a month on lobbyists in the state.
He said New York’s law would be “largely duplicative” of current federal requirements and said regulation should take place at the federal level.
“Those food additives and those GRA ingredients all go through a scientific review process,” Hewitt said. “We've heard loud and clear what Secretary Kennedy has asked for in the transparency space. And we've committed as an association and as an industry to working with the FDA to revise and improve the GRAS process at the federal level.”
But the New York bill and its odd coalition are marching on. Kelles said she was encouraged by Kennedy’s announcements but wants to move faster.
The state Senate agriculture committee is scheduled to vote Wednesday on moving the bill to the health committee. Sen. Peter Oberacker, a Republican from Cooperstown, is among those who plan to support it.
Oberacker is the son of a German butcher: “I had a knife in my hand before I had a crayon,” he said. He spent his career as a sausage-maker and food scientist, and he said he likes that the bill doesn’t simply ban a certain set of substances.
“It’s kind of a fine line when it comes to this,” he said. “It shows there can be some bipartisanship in Albany.”
Corinne Hansch, who runs the Lovin’ Mama farm outside of Amsterdam, New York, said she sees potential in her hundreds of regular customers who purchase things like organic lettuce, spinach and radishes because they are flavorful and packed with nutrients. She said she thought the bill would improve health throughout the food system.
“I really want to see a world where we prioritize healthy food getting into the hands of everybody,” she said. “It's a great way to find unity in a country that's so divided right now.”
That point resonated with Democratic Assemblymember Chantel Jackson, a social worker representing the South Bronx.
“We are the unhealthiest county of the 62 counties in the state of New York. And a lot of it's because of the food that we have access to,” Jackson said at the rally.
