A panel of senators took no vote on a bill that would ban certain food dyes and additives from school meals after hearing concerns from district representatives Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (File/Spenser Heaps for the Utah News Dispatch)
COLUMBIA — School district officials who oversee students’ breakfasts and lunches asked a panel of senators to hold off on changing the state’s school meal requirements until they see how federal changes work.
Senators did not take a vote on the bill Wednesday, instead deciding it needed more discussion after district officials and nutritionists warned that it could make children’s lunches harder to buy or more expensive.
The bill, which passed the House unanimously at the end of last year’s legislative session, would ban any foods containing any of a list of nearly a dozen food dyes and additives from school-provided meals and those supplied by third-party vendors. Students would still be allowed to pack a lunch containing whatever they wanted.
Suppliers sending food to schools would have to list ingredients beyond saying an item contains “artificial colors” or “natural flavors.”
The proposal follows a federal push to “make America healthy again,” which has included connecting school districts with local farmers for ingredients and, outside of schools, barring people on grocery assistance from buying certain unhealthy foods and drinks.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture in July 2024 put in place new rules that, among other changes, limited how much added sugar and sodium certain school meals can contain. The rule doesn’t take full effect until the start of the 2027-2028 school year, giving schools time to comply.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has suggested more sweeping changes to school meals. He unveiled new dietary guidelines this month focused on whole grains, proteins and healthy fats, which could precipitate changes to lunch regulations.
School district officials and nutritionists who spoke Wednesday emphasized they supported the idea of making children’s lunches healthier. Breaking from federal regulations, however, could make food harder to get and more expensive, they said.
In Greenville County School District, the largest in the state, cooks already prepare meals from scratch using fresh fruit, vegetables and meat. Still, about 70% of the food used in students’ meals wouldn’t qualify under the bill, said Ron Jones, who oversees food and nutrition for the district.
For the most part, that would be because of the ban on umbrella terms for ingredients, he said. Jones has asked suppliers to give more specifics than saying food contains “natural flavors,” but they decline, he said.
If the district’s vendors couldn’t meet the requirements, that would leave the district scrambling to find food, potentially forcing schools to pay a premium for meals, Jones said.
Vendors would have to pay fees for violating the bill. Even if a supplier could meet the requirements, the penalties may scare them off because of the potential for human error in the process, Jones said.
“Even programs that are already leading the state and the nation in healthy, scratch-cooked, responsibly sourced meals would be forced to significantly reduce menu offerings,” Jones said.
School meal manufacturers typically work on a large scale to make sure all the food is uniform, affordable and sustainable, said Wanda McDowell, vice president of sales for Super Bakery, which supplies food for school meals.
When federal changes happen, they generally include plenty of time for suppliers to adjust, and vendors must comply. Without those incentives, suppliers are likely to drop in-state customers and look for those in other states, McDowell said.
“While well-intentioned, state-by-state requirements risk fragmenting our industry,” McDowell said.
Most of the dyes on the list, which include the outlawed Red No. 3 coloring, have natural alternatives, McDowell said. But others don’t yet. Titanium dioxide, for instance, is commonly used to whiten foods and has no known alternative, she said.
Although the dye isn’t essential for foods, it’s difficult to find suppliers who don’t use it in products like pasta sauces, and seeing undyed versions of foods might scare off children who aren’t adventurous eaters, she said.
“Kids have been taught to eat with what?” McDowell said. “Their eyes.”
If the USDA is moving in the direction of requiring healthier meals nationwide, changing the state’s rules becomes unnecessary, said Cindy Jacobs, who oversees child nutrition for Laurens County School District 56.
“Give them a chance,” Jacobs said. “Give us a change to figure out where this is going with the USDA.”
