A Food Fight is about to begin in the state of Illinois

Leaders in Illinois are pushing to make the new Illinois Food Safety Act into law, but they are already receiving pushback from a strong group of manufacturers here in the Land of Lincoln...

Get our free mobile app

By now you have probably heard the news but if not, The Secretary of State in Illinois is hoping to pass the Illinois Food Safety Act, which according to The State Journal-Register...

"Senate Bill 2637 would prohibit the sale and manufacture of food products containing brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, red dye No. 3 and titanium dioxide. The additives, health officials said, have been linked to nervous system damage, reproductive issues, and increased rates of cancer."

So now that you are caught up part of this new food safety act would fine manufacturers for not changing their recipes to eliminate these banned substances, and a group of manufacturers here in the state of Illinois are not happy about this, in an article from The State Journal-Register, they say...

"The law would also impose a civil penalty of $5,000 for first-time violators and fines not exceeding $10,000 for each subsequent infringement...IMA President and CEO Mark Denzler said the legislation would overstep the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in addition to causing a sizable negative economic impact... The industry generates more than $135 billion in economic impact in Illinois per year."

To read more about this proposed new law and the people opposing it, click here!

FOOD FIGHT

This bill has a lot of support from the leadership in the Land of Lincoln and I fully expect it will pass and be signed into law unless these manufacturing groups can lobby hard against it over the next couple of months. I would say to the people in Illinois, expect a ton of news coverage on this throughout 2024.

Is this law the right thing to do? And will the companies change their recipes or take the fines? Overall, I guess that companies will comply with the law if it passes, which companies do you know willingly pass thousands of dollars in fines? Is this law the right thing to do...I don't know, I struggle with being in favor of the government telling a business what they can and can't make for consumption, if the FDA is really against these chemicals why haven't they been banned federally across the country, why are states like Illinois and California just trying to do this? I don't know the answer to all of these questions I just know that they will be asked a lot while this law is debated.