CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Those in the beverage industry say Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s decision to ban certain food dyes in West Virginia will do more harm than good.
Morrisey signed House Bill 2354 into law Monday that will first prohibit seven artificial food dyes in schools and then more broadly throughout the state.
The dyes include: Red Dye No. 3, Red Dye No. 40, Yellow Dye No. 5, Yellow Dye No. 6, Blue Dye No. 1, Blue Dye No. 2, and Green Dye No. 3.
“West Virginia ranks at the bottom of many public health metrics, which is why there’s no better place to lead the Make America Healthy Again mission,” Morrisey said. “By eliminating harmful chemicals from our food, we’re taking steps toward improving the health of our residents and protecting our children from significant long-term health and learning challenges.”
However, American Beverage, the national trade organization representing America’s leading non-alcoholic beverage companies, is just one of the entities who has an issue with the legislation.
American Beverage officials came together with union members of Teamsters Local 175 for a press briefing Tuesday discussing why they oppose the measure.
They assert the legislation will greatly limit consumer freedom of choice when it comes to buying food, raise grocery store prices, negatively impact jobs, and impose costly new mandates on businesses.
American Beverage Senior Vice President Meridith Potter said the impact of this will be felt across the board in West Virginia.
“We want to be really clear about the impact of this sweeping ban, it will hurt West Virginians, both consumers, workers and the overall economy, all over ingredients that have been proven safe,” Potter said.
Potter said with already elevated grocery store prices, this piece of legislation will only put a strain on people’s pockets even more.
She said it will not only increase grocery store costs, but limit options as well.
“West Virginians deserve choice, information and facts, not fear,” Potter said. “The fact is this bill will take away choices from West Virginians by eliminating products in nearly every aisle of the grocery store.”
Potter said the beverage industry supports over 1,800 good-paying jobs in the state and contributes $1.7 billion to the local economy. She said this food dye ban will also affect these jobs and the economy in detrimental ways.
Teamsters Local 175 Secretary Treasurer Luke Farley said they represent over 600 members in the beverage industry across the state.
Farley said from their understanding of the bill and what they’ve heard from their representatives from Coca-Cola and Pepsi is that approximately 50% of their inventory will be eliminated from the state, which will cost a number of jobs.
But, he said it doesn’t just stop at the beverage industry. 
“Other places for instance, what we refer to as your “Mom and Pop stores” that are your locally-owned convenient stores, they’re not going to be able to have sodas and food on shelves, and that’s the majority of what those people sell, that’s how they make their living,” Farley said.
Teamsters Local 175 Vice President Donny Purdue said he is also very much concerned with the affect it will have on local supply chains. He said bare shelves will lead to stores to have to raise prices on the other inventory they do have.
Purdue said Pepsi’s West Virginia and Kentucky region is the number one selling region for Mountain Dew with 11 million cases sold annually. He said 7 million cases get sold in West Virginia alone.
In addition, Purdue said this will have much affect on the crops as well.
“You’re going to have to have new crops planted for these dyes, the majority of these crops the ingredients will be grown in other countries, they were telling us like China and Turkey,” Purdue said. “Why would we want other countries growing these crops, why would we not want those grown here in the United States?”
Matt Paul, a bulk consumer representative with Pepsi has been a frontline employee with the company for 23 years.
He said the impact this will have on the state’s economy would be devastating.
“You’re going to kill 50-percent of that, so that’s going to equal minimum $30 million dollars a year that’s going to be removed, not only from the economy in this state but the families in this state,” said Paul.
A former federal scientist and current President and CEO of Raptor Pharm & Tox, Ltd. Dr. Lyle Burgoon said from a health standpoint, the colors being talked about in the ban have been studied by the United States Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization for decades, and they have deemed these products safe for consumption.
Borgoon said what many may not realize is that the FDA requires pre-market safety studies on the use of these dyes.
“The USFDA requires color manufacturers and then also the companies that are going to use these colors in their products to demonstrate that these colors and these dyes are actually safe, and they require pre-market safety studies and then a petitioning process they have to go through with the FDA,” Borgoon said.
He said in his opinion, this issue is just science versus fear mongering
“There’s several organizations who raise a lot of money based on fear mongering and they don’t always push what the science actually says,” Borgoon said. “So, I support the USFDA in backing these when using them appropriately, and that they are completely safe.”
However, Chancellor and Dean of West Virginia University Health Sciences Dr. Clay Marsh says otherwise.
Marsh came on ‘MetroNews Midday’ Tuesday and he said data, at least with Red Dye No. 3, shows in animal studies the increased risk of cancer. He said because of this, the FDA plans to ban this particular dye from the shelves by 2027.
Marsh said additional studies show these types of dyes can cause increased hyperactivity, less clear thinking, and food allergies.
He said these dyes were already replaced in some food sources in the U.S. such as in some macaroni and cheese vendors.
“They changed that then to more natural ingredients using paprika and turmeric, so if there are alternatives, it may not be quite as vibrantly colorful, but it might be safer, and then I think that it would not be unreasonable for us to move in that direction,” he said.
Marsh said it may be more costly to turn to natural ingredients, and there may be the need to gather more evidence surrounding the effects of these dyes, but he said he believes the ban will be more beneficial to the health of West Virginians in the long run.
“I think it’s a reasonable thing for us to focus on and I’m actually proud of our state that we are leading the way this way and also that we’ve had a successful sort of number of health issues that seems to be getting resolved in the state,” Marsh said.
Regardless, those with American Beverage and Teamsters 175 say this legislative process was rushed through without any thoughtful deliberation and a clear understanding from everyone involved, including workers and consumers.
Farley said they were never even contacted.
“You know, no one called, no one reached out to the Teamsters knowing full well that we represent people in the beverage industry, no one reached out to people in the beverage industry to see how this would affect us,” Farley said.
He said being the first state to sign this kind of legislation into law, he would think there might be more of a research process being conducted across every industry regarding its impact.
The seven dyes will be banned from all school foods in the state starting August 1. They will be banned in foods throughout the state beginning January 1, 2028.
Potter said those at American Beverage are simply asking Gov. Morrisey to reconsider this piece of legislation and the potential harm it could have on everyone involved.
“We want to send an important message to Governor Morrisey and lawmakers in West Virginia and lawmakers in any other state considering a ban like this,” Potter said. “We want to work with you to get this right as the consequences of this law become clear.”