California became the first state in the nation to prohibit four food additives found in popular cereal, soda, candy and drinks after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a ban on them Saturday.

The California Food Safety Act will ban the manufacture, sale or distribution of brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben and red dye No. 3 — potentially affecting 12,000 products that use those substances, according to the Environmental Working Group.

The legislation was popularly known as the “Skittles ban” because an earlier version also targeted titanium dioxide, used as a coloring agent in candies including Skittles, Starburst and Sour Patch Kids, according to the Environmental Working Group. But the measure, Assembly Bill 418, was amended in September to remove mention of the substance.

  • LennethAegis@kbin.social
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    10 months ago

    Since the article didn’t list many examples, I looked them up.

    brominated vegetable oil- used in sodas, usually citrus flavored ones
    potassium bromate- look out for this in breads
    propylparaben- used in packaged baked goods, mostly pastries and tortillas
    red dye No. 3- aka Erythrosine, its a pink dye, so watch out for that ingredient in any pink foods

    and lastly to cover all bases:
    titanium dioxide- its a white dye, so watch out for that ingredient in any white foods

    • wafflez@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Brominated vegetable oil used to be in Mountain dew and it’s the reason it’s been banned in many countries around the world for decades