Rep. Natalie Mihalek R-Pittsburgh, speaks during Family Care Act rally day in support of paid family and medical leave in Pennsylvania in late March at the state Capitol.

A bipartisan group of state House members have begun introducing a package of food safety bills.

Six of the eight bills in the legislative package, spearheaded by Rep. Natalie Mihalek, R-Pittsburgh, were introduced Monday and includes greater chemical disclosures on food labels, bans on the sale of foods with certain chemicals in schools, creating a statutory definition of ultra processed foods and a ban on certain pesticides. Yet to be introduced are bills that would encourage the planting of cover crops in Pennsylvania and a resolution that would deem August as Wellness Month in Pennsylvania.

Republicans David Rowe, Stephenie Scialabba, Abby Major, Joe Hogan, Ryan Warner, Joshua Kail, Shelby Labs, Robert Leadbeter, Barbara Gleim and Carl Metzgar as well as Democrats Jennifer O’Mara, Justin Fleming, Melissa Shusterman, Jessica Benham and Lisa Borowski have all signed on as co-sponsors of the package of bills as well as for individual pieces of the package.

“Dozens of other countries have taken steps to protect its citizens from harmful foods either by banning certain ingredients, altering their industrialized farming processes, requiring labels for harmful additives, or even educating its citizenry on healthy habits while the U.S. watches its waistline expand and wait for chronic disease to take hold,” Mihalek wrote in her co-sponsorship memorandum for the legislative package. “We cannot afford to sit around and wait for something to change. Our food is literally killing us. In order to protect Pennsylvania consumers, we are introducing a package of bills aimed at cleaning up our food supply as our society demands that we begin to unravel from the tight grip of industrial ingredients.”

House Bill 1130, also known as the Show Us Your Science Act, is co-sponsored by Mihalek, Shusterman, Labs, Fleming and Borowski and would require companies that manufacture, distribute, or sell food products in Pennsylvania to disclose the use of any Generally Recognized as Safe substances as well as documentation that the notified substance is safe under the conditions of its intended use starting in 2026.

The lawmakers say it is estimated that over 10,000 chemicals have come into the food supply with no evidence they chemicals are safe for consumption through the “Generally Recognized As Safe” (GRAS) loophole that allows food companies to add new chemicals to food without FDA approval or any type of independent review.

“This loophole was created for common ingredients such as vinegar and sugar, yet it has been exploited for decades,” the lawmakers wrote in their memorandum for HB 1130.

HB 1131, the Healthy Students Act, is co-sponsored by Rowe, Shusterman, Mihalek, Gleim, Leadbetter and Borowski and would prohibit the sale of products containing Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Blue 2 and Green 3 in any state public school. HB 1133, sponsored by Scialabba, Major, O’Mara, Hogan, Shusterman, Gleim, Mihalek and Labs, would require labels separate and distinct from standard food nutrition labels for foods with butylated hydroxyanisole, a chemical classified in 1991 by the National Institutes for Health as a human carcinogen. It is often used as a preservative in foods such as cereals, frozen pizzas, processed meats, mixes, and a myriad of beverages.

HB 1132, co-sponsored by O’Mara, Kail, Mihalek and Fleming, creates a statutory definition of ultra-processed foods for purposes of clarity in the Agriculture Code. HB 1134 would require that any food or beverage manufactured or sold in Pennsylvania which contains one or more of the following artificial dyes to warn consumers on the packaging that the product may affect children’s behavior and health: Red 40, Blue 1, Blue 2, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Green 3. The bill is co-sponsored by Scialabba, Major, O’Mara, Mihalek, Labs, Warner and Shusterman. HB 1135, co-sponsored by Shusterman, Hogan, Mihalek, Fleming and Warner, would ban the use of paraquat, a pesticide that is part of the first generation of commercial pesticides linked to Parkinson’s disease and childhood leukemia.

“Over 70 countries including China and the entire EU have banned its use yet more than 10 million pounds of it are being sprayed on American crops each year. These other countries have found safer alternatives to Paraquat and we think its time Pennsylvania does the same. While federal pesticide law sets a floor, we believe it is time to set the ceiling for our Commonwealth,” the lawmakers wrote in their memorandum.