California Ruins Everything! Could Arizona Be the Next to Ban this Food?

California Governor Bans Skittles!

When Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 418 in the state of California, it effectively banned candies like Skittles throughout the state.

Assembly Bill 418, dubbed The Skittles Ban, will:

"Prohibit any food product manufactured, sold, delivered, distributed, held, or offered for sale in California after January 1, 2027, from containing brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, or red dye 3.

Why California Passed the Skittles Ban

The bill is set to take effect in 2027 in order to give manufacturers enough time to change their formulas. It turns out, that when you Taste the Rainbow, you're ingesting four harmful chemicals.

The law specifically bans the following chemicals:

• Red Dye #3
• Propylparaben
• Brominated Vegetable Oil
• Potassium Bromate

CalMatters.org explains that red dye #3 is a known carcinogen. The FDA banned its use in cosmetics more than 30 years ago. It's still used to flavor Peeps and other candies.

Propylparaben is a preservative used in baked goods. Brominated vegetable oil is added to citrus drinks to keep flavoring oils from floating on top.

Potassium bromate is a dough conditioner used in baked goods like bread, cookies, and tortillas. Potassium bromate has been banned throughout Europe, the UK, Canada, and parts of South America.

Could the Skittles Ban Spread to Arizona?

Arizona is not currently crafting legislation to outlaw any of the ingredients banned in the newly passed bill from California. That doesn't mean they will continue to be available in Arizona in their present form.

As we've seen with other food-related bills passed in California, it's often easier for manufacturers to change their product formulas across the board, rather than try to focus on different products in different states.

Since California is the 5th largest economy in the world, as California goes, so goes the rest of the United States. At least as far as food safety legislation is concerned.

Maybe California Doesn't Ruin Everything

Food safety advocates have been pressuring manufacturers to remove these harmful ingredients from food products for decades.

It sometimes takes a large entity like the State of California to tip the scales in favor of the consumer. If this changes the formula for everyone, this could be a win for all of us.