West Virginia lawmakers have made history by passing a groundbreaking bill that bans a slate of artificial food dyes and preservatives, positioning the state as a trailblazer in the fight for safer food. House Bill 2354, approved by the state Senate on March 5, 2025, with a 31-2 vote, prohibits the sale of food products containing seven synthetic dyes and two preservatives, citing health concerns for children and families. The measure, which cleared the House of Delegates on Feb.
28 with a 93-5 vote, now awaits reconciliation over its effective date before heading to Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s desk for final approval.The bill’s passage marks West Virginia as the first state in the U.
S. to pass such a comprehensive food dye ban, a move supporters hail as a vital step toward improving public health in a state plagued by poor health outcomes.“This is probably the most important bill that we will vote on in our entire careers here,” said Sen.
Laura Wakim Chapman, R-Ohio, chair of the Senate Health and Human Resources Committee, during the Senate debate. “This will be the start of making our state and our children healthier.”A health-driven push in a struggling stateWest Virginia’s decision comes amid growing national scrutiny of synthetic food additives, particularly their potential links to neurobehavioral issues in children.
The dyes targeted by House Bill 2354 (HB 2354) — Red No. 3, Red No. 40, Yellow No.
5, Yellow No. 6, Blue No. 1, Blue No.
2, and Green No. 3 �.
