When a group of West Virginia legislators in February introduced a bill that would ban a slate of artificial dyes from school meals within months, school districts didn鈥檛 expect it to gain much traction.
But the bill quickly moved through the legislature and was . It then took effect Aug. 1, giving schools across the state less than five months to comply.
There was a 鈥渟hock factor鈥� at the pace of change, said Chris Derico, child nutrition director for the Barbour County school district, and he was concerned that it might be a big undertaking to overhaul menus that had already been set for the next school year.
鈥淲e weren鈥檛 really paying attention to what dyes were in the menus prior to this,鈥� Derico said. 鈥淢y first reaction was, 鈥楬ow the heck are we supposed to do this timeline?鈥欌��
Those fears largely didn鈥檛 come to pass, though, Derico said, thanks in part to preexisting federal school meal nutrition standards, recent movement by and to remove many artificial dyes from their products, and 鈥攚hich have been linked to elevated cancer risk and hyperactivity and neurobehavioral problems in children.
West Virginia鈥檚 law bans seven artificial dyes from school meals鈥攊ncluding red dyes No. 3 and 40, yellow dyes No. 5 and 6, and blue dyes No. 1 and 2鈥攅ffective Aug. 1, before it expands to ban those same dyes from all food products sold within the state by 2028.
It is the first state law of its kind that has already taken effect, but is part of a much larger movement nationwide that has garnered bipartisan support and been accelerated by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s 鈥淢ake America Healthy Again鈥� push to cut down on the additives in foods.
Other states, including , , , and , have passed laws that 鈥攊ncluding, in some cases, in on-site vending machines鈥攂ut those laws have longer runways for implementation.
Some products included in the West Virginia ban include certain Gatorade flavors, candies including M&Ms and Skittles, Pop Tarts, Doritos, and cereals such as Froot Loops and Lucky Charms.
The ban might have a larger effect on consumers shopping in grocery stores, said Diane Pratt-Heavner, the director of media relations for the School Nutrition Association.
Schools generally don鈥檛 serve many of the affected products routinely because they follow federal nutrition standards, generally from the Obama and Biden administrations, that require districts to serve whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, and limit the amount of sodium and sugar in meals.
鈥淭his is an area that K-12 is a leader on, and a good model for the rest of the commercial retail market,鈥� said Pratt-Heavner, who added that her organization hasn鈥檛 heard of any widespread struggles to comply in West Virginia. 鈥淥verall, we are hearing from people saying, 鈥楾here weren鈥檛 as many items on our menu as we expected that contain these ingredients鈥� and they鈥檝e been able to find alternatives.鈥�
West Virginia districts have run into few hiccups in eliminating dyes
In West Virginia, Derico said his district, which serves 2,100 students, worked quickly to review the products on its menus for the 2025-26 school year, but didn鈥檛 find many that violated the new food dye ban.
One hiccup was that the district occasionally serves Doritos as part of a 鈥渨alking taco鈥� meal鈥攚hen taco ingredients are served inside of a chip bag instead of on a taco shell. Doritos contain several of the banned dyes.
The solution was relatively simple, though, Derico said. The Barbour County district switched the chips from Doritos to Tostitos, and 鈥淚 haven鈥檛 really heard any negative feedback yet,鈥� Derico said.
The switch didn鈥檛 come with a significant price difference, either, he said, and the district hasn鈥檛 seen any notable cost differences for other products it鈥檚 had to switch out due to the ban.
鈥淲hen it comes to having access to items that we need, there鈥檚 no issue there. And, while we feel there have been some price increases, it鈥檚 not anything clearly due to the dyes,鈥� Derico said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 more been general inflation that we鈥檙e seeing for everything anyway.鈥�
The one exception: strawberry milk.
When the district鈥檚 food manufacturer removed dyes from the flavored milk, the price increased enough that Derico decided to not provide it daily anymore.
Collaboration is key to navigating the dye ban, districts say
It鈥檚 not realistic for nutrition directors to sit down and read the labels of every single product on their menus, especially with the tight turnaround provided by West Virginia鈥檚 new law, Derico said.
But he and his colleagues across the state are working together to 鈥渁chieve the intent of the law鈥� and then address anything that initially fell through the cracks.
鈥淚 am sure I鈥檓 going to make mistakes, and I鈥檓 going to serve something with one of these dyes,鈥� Derico said. 鈥淚鈥檓 sure I鈥檓 going to have a cafeteria manager reading a label and find it for me, and I鈥檒l fix it the next go-around.鈥�
About 20 district nutrition directors from across the state meet bimonthly to network and collaborate. In recent months, they鈥檝e shared updates about products they鈥檝e identified on their menus that violate the state鈥檚 new ban.
It was at one of those meetings that another nutrition director shared that the instant mashed potatoes their district had been using had a dye listed on the label. It was a surprise to everyone, Derico said, because mashed potatoes are white, and other districts might have overlooked the item.
The West Virginia Department of Education鈥檚 child nutrition office has also set up a shared database that districts can access to easily see if a product has been identified as having a banned dye, Derico said.
District leaders can also add products to the database as they identify them, he said.
