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Utah Becomes the Fourth State to Ban Ingredients From School Meals

April 8, 2025

The Beehive State bans the usual list of color additives plus potassium bromate and propylparaben from public schools beginning next school year.

Dave Fusaro

Utah became the fourth state to ban a handful of color additives and other suspect ingredients from its public schools, beginning next school year.

House Bill 402, signed by the governor on March 27, will prohibit the widely used list of banned colorants –Blue 1 & 2, Green 3, Red 3 & 40 and Yellow No. 5 & 6 – as well as potassium bromate and propylparaben.

The new law does make a few exceptions: a student's parent may provide foods with the banned substances; a teacher may supply those food items if she gets permission from parents at the start of each semester; they’re allowed in concession items at school-sponsored events; and products with those ingredients can be sold in vending machines.

Similar bills have become law in California, Virginia and West Virginia.

About the Author

Dave Fusaro | Editor in Chief

Dave Fusaro has served as editor in chief of Food Processing magazine since 2003. Dave has 30 years experience in food & beverage industry journalism and has won several national ASBPE writing awards for his Food Processing stories. Dave has been interviewed on CNN, quoted in national newspapers and he authored a 200-page market research report on the milk industry. Formerly an award-winning newspaper reporter who specialized in business writing, he holds a BA in journalism from Marquette University. Prior to joining Food Processing, Dave was Editor-In-Chief of Dairy Foods and was Managing Editor of Prepared Foods.