TODAY: CSPI, Advocates, and Lawmakers Demand Food Safety Reform While Feds Fall Short

ALBANY, NY (05/06/2026) (readMedia)-- Today, state lawmakers, physicians, and community health advocates will hold a press conference in the Capitol urging Albany to prioritize a critical slate of food policy reforms designed to protect children and families across New York. At the press conference, advocates will display everyday junk foods and deceptively marketed "health-washed" products to underscore how current policies leave consumers exposed to misleading marketing, excessive sodium and sugar, and harmful chemical additives.

Watch the livestream here.

Key legislation includes:

• Food Safety and Chemical Disclosure Act (S1239E/A1556G Kavanagh/Kelles) which will ban harmful additives Red No. 3, propylparaben, and potassium bromate, plus mandate transparency requirements for chemicals used in foods. (Passed Senate and Assembly, awaiting Governor's signature)
• School Dyes Bill (S3214A/A8707A Kavanagh/Kelles) which will ban seven harmful synthetic dyes in school meals served statewide (in Senate Education Committee, in Assembly Education Committee)
• Sodium Warning Bill (S428A/A5207A Rivera/Reyes) which will require clear sodium warning icons on chain restaurant menus to ensure transparency and help consumers make informed choices (Passed Senate, on Assembly floor)
• Sweet Truth Act (S427/A5305 Rivera/Reyes) which will require clear added-sugar warning icons on chain restaurant menus, and extend the protections from NYC's existing Sweet Truth Act to families statewide (in Senate Commerce, Economic Development and Small Business Committee, in Assembly Health Committee)
• Predatory Marketing Prevention Act (S397A/A2584A Myrie/Reyes) which will restrict misleading targeted food and beverage marketing aimed at children and adolescents (in Senate Agriculture Committee, in Assembly Consumer Affairs Committee)

Major food and beverage companies spend billions annually on aggressive marketing, often targeting children and communities of color already facing disproportionate rates of diet-related disease. These same communities frequently have a higher concentration of fast food restaurants, where menu items contain dangerously high levels of added sugar and sodium-linked to diabetes, stroke, hypertension, and heart disease, some of New York's leading causes of death. HHS Secretary Kennedy Jr. and former FDA Commissioner Dr. Kessler recently affirmed that food giants are hijacking the decades-old federal GRAS loophole to introduce harmful chemicals into the nation's food supply without adequate FDA oversight.