Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is encouraging every state to follow West Virginia’s lead to ban several dyes from school lunches and snacks and eventually all food.

Mr. Kennedy held an event at a West Virginia school with Governor Morrisey on Friday.

“We have a public health crisis in the country,” Mr. Kennedy said. “And, unfortunately, West Virginia is leading the way with the highest obesity rate in the country.”

Mr. Morrisey blamed the dyes and chemicals in food for the state ranking near the bottom of many public health metrics.

“We have to clean up the food,” Mr. Morrisey said. “Our kids deserve better.”

The Virginia law will prohibit seven dyes, including Red Dye No. 3, in any meal served in a school nutrition program beginning August 1. Starting January 1, 2028, those dyes and the preservatives butylated hydroxyanisole and propylparaben will be banned in any food sold in the state. 

The American Beverage Association warns that West Virginia consumers will face higher food prices and a scarcity of products under the new law.

“This law effectively outlaws 60 percent of grocery store food items. West Virginians will be left with fewer choices because of what politicians in Charleston decided without any sound science behind them,” the association’s president, Kevin Keane, said in a statement. “The law may be well-intentioned but make no mistake – it will create real harm for West Virginians, workers and businesses.”

The International Association of Color Manufacturers also criticized the law.

“Color additives, regardless of source, play a critical role in ensuring product consistency, enhancing visual appeal, and maintaining consumer confidence in food and beverage products,” the group said in a statement.

The Environmental Working Group says more than 20 states have introduced a variety of bills addressing food chemicals and synthetic dyes. 

California passed a law in 2023 banning brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, and Red No. 3 dye — in food products but it won’t go into effect until January 1, 2027.

The Consumer Brands Association said it is concerned about a patchwork of different food regulations across the country and wants it controlled at the federal level.

“The FDA plays a critical role in ensuring the availability of safe and high-quality products for consumers through a science and risk-based process that the makers of America’s trusted household brands depend on to continue innovating and meeting evolving consumer preferences. It’s imperative that the FDA performs its regulatory role effectively, efficiently and transparently,” it said in a statement.

The FDA banned Red No. 3 dye earlier this year but the rules don’t go into effect until 2027. The FDA had banned the dye in cosmetics and topical drugs years ago but allowed it to stay in foods and ingested drugs because research at the time showed that the dye did not affect humans the same way it did lab rats. Health advocates have been asking the FDA to reconsider, arguing that children consume more of the dye than full-grown adults via candies, cakes, and other foods.

Among the foods that include Red No. 3 are maraschino cherries, puddings, fruit cocktails, candy corn, dyed marshmallows, protein shakes, and alternative vegetarian meats.

At Friday’s event, Mr. Morrisey laid out other ideas to improve health in his state, including encouraging every citizen to walk at least a mile a day. He noted his own weight problem and said he planned to work to become healthier.

Mr. Morrisey also wants soda banned from the federal  SNAP program, which provides money to buy food for struggling families.

Mr. Kennedy says he met with the heads of several food companies recently. “It takes a lot of courage to stand up to these big companies like it did to big tobacco,” Mr. Kennedy said.

He promised to approve any state requests to exempt soda from their SNAP programs, which West Virginia has now requested.