International group sues WV health, education officials over state’s new artificial food dye ban

by Amelia Ferrell Knisely, West Virginia Watch
October 13, 2025

The International Association of Color Manufacturers is suing West Virginia health and school leaders over a new state law that bans certain artificial food dyes from being included in food items sold in school lunches. 

The group is asking a judge to strike down the requirement. 

Republican lawmakers behind the bill, which passed earlier this year, said the synthetic red, blue, green and yellow dyes — commonly in candy, cereal and soda — are unnecessary and harmful. Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed the measure into law in March. 

In the lawsuit, the association says the West Virginia Legislature acted unlawfully in passing House Bill 2354 by asserting their power over the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which has the authority to make food safety decisions. 

The suit was filed Oct. 6 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia against the state’s health secretary, Arvin Singh, state schools Superintendent Michele Blatt and state school board members by name. West Virginia Bureau for Health Interim Commissioner Justin Davis was also named as a defendant. 

“By expressly naming and prohibiting the targeted color additives without any rational basis for finding that they are, in fact, unsafe in any way, HB 2354 violates the equal protection guarantees under the U.S. and West Virginia Constitutions,” the lawsuit said. “The Court should declare the law unconstitutional and enjoin its enforcement.”

The legislation banned the use of seven artificial dyes — Red No. 3, Red No. 40, Yellow No. 5, Yellow No. 6, Blue No. 1, Blue No. 2 and Green No. 3 — in school meals beginning Aug. 1 and is currently being implemented in schools statewide. Some lawmakers linked the dyes to behavioral issues in children. 

The dyes would be prohibited along with the preservatives butylated hydroxyanisole and propylparaben, in drugs and food items for sale in the state beginning Jan. 1, 2028.

Morrisey and other Republican supporters of the bill have linked to the Trump administration’s “Make American Healthy Again” movement. Shortly after the legislation passed in West Virginia, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced his intention for the country’s food industry to phase out artificial dyes. They want the industry to swap out the dyes for natural alternatives.

But IACM maintains that there’s no scientific evidence showing that the dyes are harmful when consumed. The group’s website includes information on why colors are safe and how they’re regulated, saying the color additives are subject to extensive safety assessment as described by the FDA.

In the lawsuit, IACM also said that manufacturers of color additives and manufacturers of products which use those additives “will suffer irreparable harm, both through the deprivations of their constitutional protections as well as the significant economic costs that the law will impose on them.”

Before lawmakers signed off on the bill, the state’s food and beverage industry pushed back on the measure with paid advertisements, warning that it would lead to increased grocery prices and empty shelves. Alternative ingredients don’t exist to scale, they said. 

West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: info@westvirginiawatch.com.