FDA To Make Food Additive Safety More Open – What Your Snack Label Might Show Next

For years, food ingredient labels have been the last stop for anyone trying to figure out what’s actually in their snacks. Now the Food and Drug Administration is cracking that door open even wider.

From colour additives to food contact materials, the agency’s latest moves signal a new era of public visibility. Below is a complete rundown of the changes shaping your snack labels, and the larger shifts behind them.

Why Food Chemical Transparency Is Shifting

The FDA’s Human Foods Program (HFP) has reorganized its chemical safety work, putting openness and proactive reviews at the heart of its mission.

With new tools, new leadership, and outside pressure from states and public health advocates, 2025 is already looking like a landmark year.

Food-safety labs and researchers using advanced equipment, such as that from IKA and other global suppliers, are supplying key data for FDA reviews.

Two Big Drivers Behind the Change

• New structured tools: A Post-Market Assessment Prioritisation Tool now ranks chemicals for review using transparent criteria. Combined with an expanded toxicity screening decision tree, it offers a clear, predictable pathway for reassessing substances.
• External pressure and state action: California’s Food Safety Act bans several additives starting in 2027. Other states are considering similar restrictions. Large brands often standardise across regions, so state laws can have a national effect.

Taken together, the result is faster decisions, more public dashboards, and tighter timelines for the industry.

Brominated Vegetable Oil (BVO) Is Out

Citrus sodas and energy drinks are in the middle of a quiet makeover. With the FDA’s rule now in effect, brominated vegetable oil is on its way out, and ingredient lists are about to look a little cleaner.

What FDA Decided

In August 2024, the agency issued a final rule revoking the use of brominated vegetable oil (BVO) in food. Companies now have until August 2025 to reformulate and relabel.

Where It Matters

Citrus-flavoured sodas, juice drinks, and some energy beverages historically used BVO as an emulsifier. The reformulation window gives manufacturers time to switch to other stabilizers.

What You Will See on Labels

Expect “brominated vegetable oil” to disappear from ingredient lists over the next 12 months. Many brands had already begun removing it, but the new rule sets a hard deadline.

Why It Matters

Updated toxicology and National Institutes of Health data flagged safety concerns, prompting the FDA to revoke authorization entirely.

FD&C Red No. 3 Phase-Out

Once a staple of bright candies and cake decorations, FD&C Red No. 3 is now on its way out.

The FDA’s new ruling sets clear deadlines for removing this synthetic dye from foods and ingested drugs, reshaping ingredient lists over the next few years.

What FDA Decided

In January 2025, FDA revoked the use of FD&C Red No. 3 in foods and ingested drugs, citing the Delaney Clause, which prohibits approving additives shown to cause cancer in animals.

Manufacturers must remove Red 3 from foods by January 15, 2027, and from ingested drugs by January 18, 2028.

How Labels Will Change

Look for alternatives like vegetable juices, spirulina extract, beet colour, butterfly pea flower extract, or other exempt-from-certification colours.

Products produced after the compliance dates should no longer list “FD&C Red No. 3” or “erythrosine.”

Practical Tip for Shoppers

Check ingredient lists now to see whether your favourite candies or cake decorations still include Red 3. By 2027, it should be gone from foods.

New Natural Colours Gaining Ground

Bright, plant-based shades are moving from the lab into your snack aisle. Under recent FDA approvals, more natural blues and purples are showing up on ingredient lists, giving manufacturers fresh options to replace older synthetic dyes.

FDA Approvals

Natural colour approvals are accelerating. According to the Federal Register, several plant- and algae-based colours have been greenlighted or expanded for more food categories, making it easier for companies to shift away from petroleum-based dyes.

Notable Examples

• Butterfly pea flower extract: Expanded to snacks like chips, crackers, and pretzels. Watch for bright blues and purples in cereals and snacks.
• Galdieria extract blue: A blue derived from algae, approved for multiple food categories, including drinks and confections.
• Gardenia (genipin) blue: Approved for drinks and candies, confirmed in August 2025.

Why It Matters

Broader approvals mean companies can match vivid shades without synthetic dyes, resulting in cleaner ingredient panels and fewer regulatory risks.

Front-of-Package Nutrition Labels

Grocery shoppers are about to get a new shortcut on the front of packages. Instead of flipping to the back panel, a small, standardized box could soon flag key nutrients like sodium, added sugars, and saturated fat right where you first look.

The Proposal

The FDA has proposed adding front-of-package (FOP) nutrition labels to supplement the existing Nutrition Facts panel.

The design would show nutrients of concern such as saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars in a compact, standardized box.

What It Could Look Like

Potential Benefits for Shoppers

The proposal is still in public comment, but if finalized, most packaged foods would add the small box on a multi-year compliance timeline.

Packaging Safety – PFAS-Free Wrappers

@pack_lab Compostable ≠ always safe. PFAS sneak into your food and soil — here’s what to watch out for and how to avoid it. 🌱 #PFAS #ForeverChemicals #CompostablePackaging #Compost #ConsumerHealth #Sustainable #Packaging #Greenwashing #EcoFriendly #ZeroWaste ♬ Losing – Lonnex

Food safety isn’t just about ingredients on the label. The packaging that touches your food matters too, and PFAS-free wrappers are becoming the new standard.

The PFAS Phase-Out

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been widely used in grease-resistant food packaging.

In 2024, U.S. sales of PFAS grease-proofers for paper and paperboard were phased out. FDA summarized the status again in 2025, confirming the shift.

What That Means for You

Even though PFAS aren’t listed on ingredient panels, they can migrate from packaging into food. Expect more PFAS-free wrappers, liners, and bakery papers at grocery and quick-service restaurants.

Public Transparency

FDA maintains online resources summarizing which PFAS food contact notifications are no longer effective, and what the current authorized uses are. This adds a new layer of transparency on the packaging side of food safety.

The FDA’s New Transparency Tools

The agency is building public dashboards and tables to let anyone follow the status of chemicals under review.

Key Public Tools

• List of Select Chemicals Under Review: A living table showing review stages, dates, and links to actions such as risk management decisions.
• Prioritization Tool for Post-Market Reviews: Out for public comment, explaining how the FDA ranks substances for deeper assessment.
• Contaminant Transparency Tool: Centralizes action levels and references for contaminants in foods like infant formula, juices, and seafood.
• Updated Food Additive Status Lists: Cross-linked inventories covering additives, colour additives, GRAS substances, and prior-sanctioned uses.

Together, these tools give consumers, journalists, and industry a window into the agency’s workflow, beyond what’s on the label.

State Laws Nudging National Change

California’s AB 418 restricts several additives starting in 2027, including Red 3 and BVO. Similar bills in other states are adding momentum.

Large brands typically align their recipes nationally, meaning state-level action can accelerate reformulation even before federal deadlines kick in.

Likely Label Shifts

What Brands Are Doing Behind the Scenes

Behind every ingredient swap and label update is months of quiet work. Companies are reformulating recipes, testing new colours, and timing packaging changes to match FDA deadlines, all to keep your snacks on shelves without skipping a beat.

Reformulating

Removing Red 3 and BVO often triggers broader recipe changes. Companies are swapping in plant-based colours, adjusting processing, or using different stabilizers to maintain flavour and texture.

Planning Around Compliance Dates

FDA sets uniform compliance dates for labelling rules to reduce costs. For rules finalized in 2025–2026, the uniform compliance date is January 1, 2028. Expect many companies to coordinate multiple label changes at once.

Watching the FDA’s Review List

The new public table helps companies anticipate upcoming actions and prepare substitutions early, rather than scrambling after a final decision.

Will GRAS Decisions Become More Transparent?

Food chemicals can enter the market through “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) determinations as well as formal food additive petitions.

Critics have asked for stronger oversight and mandatory notifications. FDA’s new prioritization tool and transparency push suggest more systematic post-market looks at GRAS substances may be coming, though statutory changes would require Congress.

Reading Labels Smarter in 2025 and 2026

Food labels are shifting fast, and a little know-how can go a long way. By 2025 and 2026, the ingredient panels and front-of-pack boxes will look different enough that it pays to know what you’re seeing at a glance.

Spot the Dye Swap

Look for plant-based names like butterfly pea flower extract, spirulina extract, annatto, paprika extract, beet juice colour, and turmeric instead of FD&C dye numbers.

New entries like galdieria extract blue and gardenia blue will also start appearing.

Use the Front and the Back

If the FOP rule is finalized, use the quick front box to triage choices, then flip to the Nutrition Facts and ingredient list for detail, especially for added sugars and sodium.

Think Beyond the Panel

Food contact changes like the PFAS phase-out won’t appear on the ingredient list. To cut exposure, limit reheating food in contact papers and stay informed via the FDA’s PFAS updates.

What It Means for Parents, Schools, and Public Buyers

A new proposed bill would prohibit public schools in California from serving foods containing certain additives, including six synthetic food dyes found in several popular snacks. READ MORE: https://t.co/wSOf8cg0xZ pic.twitter.com/D2lC6c5ejs

— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) March 13, 2024

State and school systems are moving to avoid certain synthetic dyes and additives in meal programs.

As federal changes roll out, public buyers can prioritize items reformulated with approved natural colours, lower added sugars and sodium, and PFAS-free packaging.

California’s school food dye law and AB 418 offer a preview of where procurement policies may head.

Tracking the FDA’s Work as a Journalist or Researcher

Here are some reliable ways to stay ahead of upcoming label changes:

FAQs

The Bottom Line

The FDA is moving toward more open, more routine, and more visible oversight of food chemicals. You will see it in three main areas:

Many everyday products, from snacks to shampoos, can also contain hidden carcinogens, which makes stronger oversight even more important.

For shoppers, that means simpler choices and more confidence that bold colours and slick packaging are backed by a tighter safety net.