Bill Package to Increase Food Safety Sought by Mihalek and Bipartisan Coalition

March 18, 2025

HARRISBURG – State Rep. Natalie Mihalek (R-Allegheny/Washington) and 15 colleagues on both sides of the aisle unveiled legislation that would increase public transparency, remove chemicals and improve the quality of foods sold in Pennsylvania.

“Food safety is a pressing subject, both in Washington, D.C., and in state legislatures throughout the U.S., and for good reason. They say, ‘you are what you eat,’ but we often don’t even know what we are consuming,” Mihalek said. “For decades food companies have been exploiting loopholes in the law to introduce thousands of chemicals into our diets with almost no oversight.”

The first of eight bills, sponsored by Mihalek, combats the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) loophole, which allows companies to add new chemicals to food without FDA approval or any type of independent review. If passed, as of 2026, companies that manufacture, distribute, or sell food products in the Commonwealth will have to disclose the use of any GRAS substances and document that the notified substance is safe.

Additional proposals include:

• Prohibiting the sale of products containing Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Blue 2 and Green 3 in any Pennsylvania public school.
• Creating a statutory definition of ultra-processed foods in Pennsylvania’s agriculture laws.
• Requiring a warning label, separate from the standardized nutrition label, on foods that contain Butylated Hydroxyanisole.
• Requiring foods and beverages manufactured or sold in the Commonwealth, which contain the artificial dyes Red 40, Blue 1, Blue 2, Yellow 5, Yellow 6 or Green 3, have labels warning consumers that the product may affect children’s behavior and health.
• Banning the use of Paraquat, a commercial pesticide linked to Parkinson’s disease and childhood leukemia.
• Incentivizing Pennsylvania farmers to plant “cover crops” to improve soil and food quality by cutting down on the need for pesticides.
• Declaring August as Wellness Month in Pennsylvania.

“Food health and quality affects every single one of us and the popularity of this subject is demonstrated by the list of bipartisan House members who are championing it,” Mihalek said. “In the end, this is an opportunity to improve the health and raise the quality of life throughout Pennsylvania.”

Joining Mihalek in sponsoring the legislation are Reps. Melissa L. Shusterman (D-Chester), David H. Rowe (R-Snyder/Juniata/Mifflin/Union), Stephenie Scialabba (R-Butler), Jennifer O'Mara (D-Delaware), Abby Major (R-Armstong/Westmoreland), Justin C. Fleming (D-Dauphin), Joe Hogan (R-Bucks), Ryan Warner (R-Fayette), Joshua D. Kail (R-Beaver/Washington), Shelby Labs (R-Bucks), Robert Leadbeter (R-Columbia), Barbara Gleim (R-Cumberland), Lisa A. Borowski (D-Delaware), Jessica Benham (D-Allegheny), and Carl Walker Metzgar (R-Somerset).

The proposals have been circulated to other House members for their consideration.

Representative Natalie Mihalek
40th Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Jordan Frei
724-875-8450
jfrei@pahousegop.com
RepMihalek.com / Facebook.com/RepMihalek