Bill banning ingredients in Oklahoma foods advances out of committee

OKLAHOMA CITY – A legislative panel on Monday passed a bill that would bar synthetic dyes and over a dozen other  ingredients from food, despite concerns it could drive up prices and amounts to government overreach.

Senate Bill 4, by Sen. Kristen Thompson, R-Edmond, would ban 21 ingredients from food. The measure includes aspartame, an artificial sweetener, and sodium nitrate, a preservative. It requires a warning label disclosing all chemical food additives.

Manufacturers who fail to comply with the ban, which takes effect Jan. 15, 2027, would face administrative penalties, with the funds going to school food programs.

It also applies to ingestable medications beginning Jan. 18, 2028.

Sen. David Bullard questioned if the measure creates more government regulation for private businesses.

Thompson said the Food and Drug Administration let companies self determine if the ingredients are generally safe.

“My argument here is that it is not over regulation,” Thompson said. “This is just the beginning of food safety and regulating unsafe chemicals in our products.”

Businesses will have almost two years to reformulate if needed, she said.

“This is our first swing at this and it is a big one,” she said.

West Virginia approved a statewide ban Friday, and California has done it for school lunches, Thompson said.

Legislation to implement additive bans has been filed in Missouri, Illinois Pennsylvania, New York, Iowa, Maryland, Oregon, South Dakota and Rhode Island, she said.

“So this is absolutely a nationwide movement,” she said, adding that if states ban together the FDA will be forced to take action.

“This is the right thing to do, not only for our kids but for all of Oklahoma,” Thompson said.

She said Oklahoma’s proposed list of banned ingredients is the most robust in the country.

She expects the measure to have far reaching effects, but believes the state’s poor health outcomes will improve.

Sen. Casey Murdock, R-Felt, asked if lawmakers were telling Oklahomans what they can and cannot buy.

The state was not banning food, but is not going to allow “poisonous chemicals” in foods, Thompson said.

Sen. Carri Hicks, D-Oklahoma City, said she would support the measure Monday but had concerns that the cost would be passed on to consumers and could increase food insecurity.

Title was stricken on the bill, a procedural move to slow it down in the legislative process.

It passed by a vote of 10-1 and heads to the Senate floor for possible consideration. Murdock, chairman of the Senate Agriculture and Wildlife Committee, voted against the bill.

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