Three different bills focused on what products are inside the food consumed by people in Utah were discussed in committees in the Utah Legislature on Wednesday. These bills focus on food products sold in stores and also what food is served in Utah’s public schools.
These bills relate to the recent “Make America Healthy Again,” or MAHA, movement from President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
MAHA primarily focuses on the pharmaceutical and food industries and what products are being put into food and medicines.
Last week, Trump issued an executive order to create a MAHA commission which will be chaired by Kennedy and will also include the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Education and other government officials.
The commission will be focusing on “the childhood chronic disease crisis” and its purpose will be to study any potential contributing causes to these diseases “including the American diet, absorption of toxic material, medical treatments, lifestyle, environmental factors, government policies, food production techniques, electromagnetic radiation, and corporate influence or cronyism,” according to the order.
Going along with the MAHA idea, these three Utah bills focus on what products are in foods in Utah, making sure this food is properly labeled and informing people of what they are putting into their bodies.
These bills haven’t been specifically linked to MAHA but they follow the ideas of the movement.
The bills originated in the House and all have different sponsors.
Lawmakers want to set restrictions on food served in public schools
Sponsored by Rep. Kristen Chevrier, R-Highland, HB402 would prohibit certain ingredients from being served in public schools. The bill would ban “ultraprocessed” foods, which include the following ingredients: brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, titanium dioxide, blue dye 1, blue dye 2, green dye 3, red dye 3, red dye 40, yellow dye 5 and yellow dye 6.
Foods containing these ingredients could not be sold or served on school grounds during normal school days. If the bill passes, the requirements would start for the 2026-2027 school year.
The bill would not prevent parents or guardians from giving their children food with these ingredients, just the schools themselves.
Utah lawmaker wants to label food with cultivated meat products
HB138, sponsored by Rep. Neil Walter, R-St. George, would require foods containing cultivated meat products to be labeled clearly. Cultivated meat products are food products produced by cultivating or culturing an animal cell in vitro.
The bill also requires food containing insect or plant based meat substitutes to be labeled clearly. These food products must include a notification of these products on a label that can be clearly seen by consumers.
Walter said that other states have made moves to ban or restrict these products but that is not what this bill would do. HB138 is simply about informing consumers about the product they are consuming.
The bill’s sponsor compared these labels to like when you go to the store and choose between imitation crab and real crab.
Utah lawmaker prepares for vaccines being put in foods
Sponsored by Trevor Lee, R-Layton, HB84 has to do with vaccines, specifically vaccines that are found in certain foods.
During the committee hearing Lee shared that different pharmaceutical groups have started putting vaccines in food instead of injecting people with the vaccines. HB84 is meant to prepare for when receiving vaccines through ingesting food becomes more popular and common.
This bill clarifies that if vaccines are put in food it has to be classified as a drug and not just as food. So if this vaccine filled food was sold in grocery stores it would be placed on the pharmaceutical side and not with the food.
Lee said that other states across the country have passed similar legislation pertaining to vaccines in food.