New York and 19 other states are considering a ban on some food additives due to health risks. A local coffee shop is already shifting away from them.
Food Dye Controversy Transcript
Myer Lee: At Salt City Coffee, the drinks are mixed with fun flavors and a little bit of controversy.
The local coffee shop makes its drinks with both natural and processed dyes to cater to each customer’s preference.
Julian Guy: People do like the natural syrups a lot, but sometimes they’re looking for that almost artificial flavor. And so that is where it becomes a little tricky.
Lee: In late March, West Virginia became the most recent state to ban a few artificial dyes, including Green number 3, Yellow 5 and 6, and Blue 1 and 2.
And now, New York is one of 20 states considering similar bans.
Audrey Fahland says major coffee chains use artificial dyes to create visually appealing drinks.
This makes it difficult for Salt City to compete.
Audrey Fahland: If we want to keep up with all these chains around, I feel like we are backed into this corner where we have to have some of those more crazy, processed things.
Lee Stand-Up: Many of the foods that you know and love like a bag of Doritos has Red 40 in it and Sour Patch Kids has Blue 1. Local shops like Salt City Coffee are making an effort to use natural dyes to naturally color their drinks.
Julian Guy: Other things like certain drinks may give the appearance of a dye, but will be made with natural tea flowers. We have a blue jasmine tea that’s made with pea flowers. And those just make it a bright blue.
Lee: In 2021, the Children’s Environmental Health Center led a study on the potential effects of artificial food dyes.
They found that these synthetic dyes can cause inattentiveness, hyperactivity, and restlessness in sensitive children.
Guy: “I would fall towards believing scientific studies or research. If there’s a lot of substantial evidence, I think that it’s totally possible to see a world without them.
If New York implements some of its proposed bans, it could require businesses to label certain foods and beverages containing harmful ingredients.
The ban in West Virginia will not go into effect until 2028. If New York follows the same plan, the community will have time to adjust.
Fahland: It’s just going to cause people to no be able to get the stuff that they have habitually started consuming as easily and whenever something like that happens it usually causes public distress.
Lee: Myer Lee NCC News
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Audrey Fahland, a Minnesota native, describes her mother as a “granola mom.”
Fahland had a front row seat as her mother changed her diet over many years.
“She went from eating Hamburger Helper from the food shelf to she’s pescatarian, vegetarian,” Fahland said. “Then, now, she’s been vegan for like five or six years.”
Fahland saw her mother remove almost all processed foods from her diet. She believes this had the biggest impact on her view of these foods.
“Anything like that, you should be very, very cautious of,” Fahland said.
Fahland works at Salt City Coffee in Syracuse. The shop uses processed dyes — a topic that has recently caught national attention.
In March, West Virginia became the latest state to ban seven artificial dyes, including Blue No. 1, Red No. 40, and Green No. 3, citing potential health risks. At least 20 other states, including New York, are considering similar bans.
Salt City is one of the many local businesses that could be impacted by this ban. The shop has already begun a move toward more natural dyes for its coloring. Artificial dyes, however, still have to be used to meet the demand of customers who are used to the taste of artificial flavors.
“I think that some people want that artificial taste, especially for well-known flavors like strawberry, cherry,” Salt City employee, Julian Guy, said. “Those things are just hard to capture naturally.”
Salt City attempts to color some of its drinks naturally, using house-made dyes to create more eye-catching drinks.
Two specialty drinks from Salt City Coffee that are colored with natural dye. Andrew Watson.
Guy noted that Salt City is currently offering a blue jasmine tea made with pea flowers, which give the drink its bright blue color.
Many popular foods that people consume have food dyes in them, like most candies, drinks, and breakfast cereals.
Studies on food dyes have shown that they have a higher impact on children. In 2021, the Children’s Environmental Health Center led a study on the potential effects of artificial food dyes.
The researchers found that these synthetic dyes can cause inattentiveness, hyperactivity, and restlessness in sensitive children.
Guy said he is a big candy lover, but is happy to get behind studies that scientifically prove the negative effects of food dyes.
“I think that it’s totally possible to see a world without them,” Guy said. “But if that’s not the case, I wouldn’t necessarily feel up in arms about not having them around.”
New York state is considering three food dye bans, including one that would ban the sale of distribution and production of food products in the state containing potassium bromate, propyl paraben and Red 3.
These bans won’t likely impact big coffee chains like Starbucks as much as local coffee shop because they slowly started phasing out some dyes years ago. Fahland said major chains still use processed dyes and syrups to make their drinks, which makes it difficult for local coffee shops to keep up.
Fahland said they are torn between wanting to use more natural dyes and meeting the customers’ need for processed dyes.
“I feel like we’re backed into this corner where we have to have those more crazy processed things,” Fahland said. “Because there will always be those people that want to come in and they want their cereal milk latte.”
The state is also considering a ban that would prohibit the purchase and sale of school foods containing synthetic dyes, like Red 3, Yellow 6, and Blue 1.
West Virginia isn’t the first state to ban dyes, but it is one of the first states to have a ban of this scale. California passed a measure in 2023 that banned four additives: Red Dye No. 3, potassium bromate, brominated vegetable oil, and propylparaben. In 2024, the state lawmakers banned food dyes from school meals.
The bans, however, do not start immediately. West Virginia’s sweeping ban won’t start until 2028, and California’s four-additives ban begins Jan. 1, 2027.
If New York State successfully implements its bans, its residents and businesses will have some time to adjust because it’ll take a few years to go into effect.
It won’t be easy, though, Fahland said. People are accustomed to accessing the processed foods they love, and added that if they can’t get them, it could cause “public distress”.
“Hopefully, if this gets enacted, it’s mostly just growing pains as we move more towards natural stuff,” Fahland said.