A law going into effect Sept. 1 aims to “make Texas healthy again,” tapping into a national movement spurred by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Senate Bill 25 requires food products containing certain additives to include a warning label when sold in Texas and creates several other major provisions aimed at addressing the role of nutrition and exercise in preventing chronic disease. The rules will have impacts that reach from the grocery aisle to medical school classrooms.
SB 25’s primary author, Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, aligned the legislation with Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” platform at a press conference introducing the bill back in February.
“We’re going to turn a page in history, and we’re going to be healthier again. We’ll make Texas healthy again, and we will make America healthy again,” she said.
Warning labels for dyes and additives
At Wheatsville Co-op in Austin, the grocery selection skews organic, catering to health-conscious and sustainability-minded shoppers. Wheatsville’s director of capital strategy, Breeanna Whitehead, said she’s identified just a few products at the co-op destined for a warning label under Senate Bill 25 — like Gatorade, which includes dyes such as Red 40.
That’s one of a handful of food dyes targeted by the law, along with bleached flour, potassium bromate, synthetic trans fatty acid, and dozens of other additives.
Starting in 2027, foods containing those ingredients will get a warning stamped on their label: “This product contains an ingredient that is not recommended for human consumption by the appropriate authority in Australia, Canada, the European Union or the United Kingdom.”
Whitehead said she thinks most grocery chains will see a wave of warning labels hit products on their shelves, from H-E-B to Whole Foods. Wheatsville also plans to stock more “conventional” items that might come with a label at two stores its acquiring from Austin’s local Fresh Plus grocery chain.
In Whitehead’s view, a regulation that puts more information in the hands of Wheatsville customers is a win.
“They are looking to be health conscious or aware of what they’re putting in their body before they make that decision, so we see this as positive,” she said.
But SB 25’s labeling requirement also has its share of critics.
Trevor Findley, a clinical instructor at Harvard University’s Food Law and Policy Clinic, said he suspects the labels will be more confusing than helpful for many consumers.
“I don’t know personally that the food labeling is going to do a lot to meaningfully move the needle on overall health,” he said.
Others have pointed out inaccuracies in the law. Thomas Galligan, a scientist who studies food additives at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said he supports warning labels in certain contexts — but several of the additives listed are not actually banned in Australia, Canada, the EU or the U.K.
“That’s a problem, because then it can be challenged by [food industry] companies as being inaccurate,” he said. “We like the idea, we like the intent, but just wish that the language of the warning was a bit different.”
Galligan said the food industry will struggle to manufacture products that meet the standards of a “patchwork” of food safety laws passed by different states. Ultimately, he said he hopes laws like SB 25 influence the Food and Drug Administration to create more national standards.
Nutrition education requirements
SB 25 also requires medical schools and other health care education programs to implement a nutrition curriculum to receive certain public funds. Physicians looking to renew their licenses will also have to take continuing education courses on nutrition, and public schools and colleges will have to offer nutrition electives.
Findley is enthusiastic about this part of the law. He has found that most medical schools do not require much, if any, dedicated nutrition education. He said that has an impact on doctors’ ability to help patients with a basic aspect of health and well-being.
“They don’t feel equipped to provide patients with any sort of meaningful advice,” he said. “I think a lot of them probably want to, they just don’t have the skill set to do it.”
Dr. Alan Rampy, assistant dean of undergraduate education for Dell Medical School, said students there currently don’t take a dedicated nutrition class, but it is discussed in many areas of their training.
“They learn about nutrition as it relates to pregnancy,” he said, for example. “Or, how would you advise and set up guidelines for nutrition with a patient with severe kidney disease?”
Rampy said he still has a lot of questions about what will be required of Dell Med under this new law. But schools have some time to figure things out: They have until July 2027 to implement a curriculum designed by a newly created Texas Nutrition Advisory Committee.
Dietitians and food policy experts have mixed opinions about the value of that advisory committee, which is tasked with creating an annual report, including updated nutrition guidelines. The committee especially has a directive to study the impact of ultraprocessed foods, one of Kennedy’s priorities.
Galligan and his colleagues at the Center for Science in the Public Interest expressed concern that the committee’s guidance would conflict with nutrition guidelines from the FDA, and force schools to follow rushed guidance in their new curricula.
But Hawley Evilsizer, a dietitian who serves as director of governmental affairs for Texas Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, said she is cautiously optimistic.
“I think they’ll just have to be really, really collaborative during the implementation part to make sure that we’re able to get the right science and evidence-based information to the right people at the right time,” she said.
Common ground
Although SB 25’s authors have promoted its connection to Kennedy’s platform, the bill passed with bipartisan support.
Nonpartisan groups like the Episcopal Health Foundation supported the bill’s nutrition curriculum requirements, along with provisions to make public schools offer students more exercise opportunities. SB 25 will also prevent schools from revoking recess as a punishment for young students.
“The more we can support programming that helps people make healthy lifestyle choices and gives people access to what they need to be healthy, the more we’ll be on the prevention side and not worrying as much or spending as much money on sick care and illness,” said Dr. Ann Barnes, CEO of the Episcopal Health Foundation.
Barnes said she hopes the conversations started about chronic disease prevention in the Legislature this year are just the beginning. Moving forward, she said, she hopes legislators consider how to get health resources into the hands of low-income Texans. That includes healthy foods.
“I would love to see real progress in making access to those services easier for the folks who need it,” she said.