SACRAMENTO, California — Move over, Michelle Obama. The California Legislature just passed a school meal rule that could really leave a mark.
State lawmakers on Thursday voted to prohibit California schools from serving food additives used in Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, Twinkies and other fluorescent snacks. The move, backers argue, is necessary to limit intake of dyes that have been linked to worsened behavioral issues in kids who have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.
“California has a responsibility to protect our students from chemicals that harm children and interfere with their ability to learn,” Democratic Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, the author of the bill, said in a statement. “As a lawmaker, a parent, and someone who struggled with ADHD, I find it unacceptable that we allow schools to serve foods with additives that are linked to hyperactivity and neurobehavioral harms.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom still needs to sign the first-in-the-nation proposal. But fear of a children’s uprising did not prevent him from signing a similar bill last year that outlawed the sale of food containing a dye used in Peeps.