No, California Is Not Banning Skittles
But some other foods may need to switch up their formulas.
Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images
Take a deep breath, Skittles fans. Despite some initial reports to the contrary, California is not banning the candy.
So why were people so worried it was? Well, here’s the deal: A couple weeks ago, the state of California passed Assembly Bill No. 418, a.k.a. the California Food Safety Act.
The act, which was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom, prohibited, starting on January 1, 2027, the manufacturing, sale and distribution of four ingredients sometimes found in popular candies and snacks sold in the U.S.: brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben and Red Dye 3.
Violators could be penalized up to $5,000 for an initial violation and as much as $10,000 for each subsequent violation of the bill’s provisions.
The thing is none of those ingredients are in Skittles. That is not to say that the rumor came from nowhere. An earlier version of the bill, AB 418, included another ingredient, a coloring agent known as titanium dioxide. That ingredient is actually in Skittles, as well as in M&M’s. But that ingredient is not actually included among the banned ingredients in the final bill. And even if it were, it’s the ingredients that are banned, not products.
In a publicly shared statement to the state assembly, Gov. Newsom noted that several other countries have already banned the additives addressed in the bill, hailed it as a positive step toward greater food safety and asserted that the delay to 2027 will give brands “significant time for brands to revise their recipes to avoid these harmful chemicals.”
“Californians will still be able to access and enjoy their favorite food products, with greater confidence in the safety of such products,” the governor says.
But, wait, should the rest of us be concerned about the ingredients that will soon be prohibited in California? We reached out to Toby Amidor, MS, RD, CDN, FAND, award-winning nutrition expert and Wall Street Journal best-selling author of Up Your Veggies, to get her perspective.
Amidor says many of the ingredients targeted in the bill are “safe in the minute levels they are used and will not cause harm.”
She noted that brominated vegetable oil, which the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) allows to be added to food only in very small amounts of no more than 15 parts per million, is used in the U.S. as a stabilizer in fruit-flavored beverages.
“At this time, the FDA is working to remove the use of BVO in food and beverages as new scientific evidence reveals that there is not a reasonable certainty that BVO causes no harm,” Amidor says.
Potassium bromate, an oxidizing agent used in bread doughs and baked goods, is also regulated by the FDA, which limits the amount that can be added to foods.
“Research shows that potassium bromate doesn’t cause harm in humans when consumed in properly heated baked goods and bread,” Amidor says. “However, there is research where rodents were given a significantly high amount of potassium bromate and the results showed that the ingredient could harm DNA, the cells and potentially cause cancer.”
People “do not consume potassium bromate at [the] high levels given to the rodents ever.” So, Amidor says, “It is safe in the regulated level.”
Propylparabens, a synthetic ingredient used in small amounts in food and beverages to halt the growth of bacteria and other microbes, are also generally recognized as safe by the government and allowed in small amounts.
As for the final ingredient targeted in the bill, the synthetic food coloring Red Dye No. 3, the Center for Science in the Public Interest says, “even the FDA” acknowledges it as a carcinogen (a.k.a. cancer-causing) ingredient. Yet it lurks in countless candies, cakes and other foods and should be avoided. (Find a partial list here.)
Here’s the thing, though, Skittles do not contain Red Dye No. 3. — neither do M&M’s, BlowPops, Smarties, Nerds, Twizzlers, Red Vines and RedHots.
Still, candies like Skittles and M&M’s, despite being Red 3-free “are not a food you want to include in your diet regularly,” Amidor says. “Not because they will cause toxicity” — the small amounts of titanium oxide in them is not a big deal — “but because they are not filled with good-for-you nutrients and are considered an empty-calorie food” and better enjoyed an as an occasional treat.
Overall, Amidor believes the California bill is “an exaggeration of water cooler and social media talk” and doesn’t take into account all existing scientific evidence.
Regardless, she suspects companies may tweak their food or beverage formulas to meet consumer demands. “Does it mean the ingredients aren’t safe? No,” Amidor says. “But … I have a feeling this is what we will see.”
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