Some lawmakers in New York have come up with a plan to make sure the food and drinks we enjoy are safer. Last year, California started a move to get rid of some unsafe additives added to foods and drinks. Now, New York is doing something similar.
The first bill, A6424A/S6055B stops the use of seven additives that can be harmful and are not needed. These include azodicarbonamide, brominated vegetable oil, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), potassium bromate, propylparaben, Red 3, and titanium dioxide. Most of these are not allowed in Europe.
The New York rule says no to these seven additives by 2025, which is faster than California’s plan for 2027. Also, the second bill, S08615/A9295 says that if a company thinks something is safe for food, they have to tell New York about it. Right now, the government does not always check to make sure these things are safe.
Two people who work for the state, Sen. Brian Kavanagh and Assembly member Anna Kelles, are leading this effort. Anna Kelles knows a lot about food and health because she studied it. A group called the Center for Science in the Public Interest and others think these new rules are very good. They believe the rules will make food safer because they fill in some missing parts that the government has not fixed.
New York’s rules could change things for the whole country. When companies make their food safer for New York, they might do the same for all their food everywhere in the US. The rules could also make the government want to make food safer for everyone in the country.
Sen. Kavanagh said, “New Yorkers should have the best safety when it comes to what we eat.” Assembly member Kelles added that it’s important to stop using bad additives that can cause health problems. They both want to make sure everything added to food is checked and known by everyone.
These efforts will push the whole nation to think about what we put in our mouths and make sure our food doesn’t have things in it that can make us sick. It’s a big step toward making the food we eat and share with our families safer and healthier.