Montana draft would review food additives and limit some foods

The proposed panel would study food additives and advise the state health department about possible limits on foods containing additives it finds harmful. The six-member panel would include three governor appointees with relevant scientific expertise and three members of the public appointed by the House speaker. The panel would set safe combined amounts using federal food safety data, consumption statistics, and the effects of related substances. The panel could survey relevant groups, which would have to give each panel member the requested information. The panel would meet quarterly, report to the department every year, and report to the Environmental Quality Council every two years. Within two years after the act’s effective date, it would issue a list of additives for regulation and their safe levels.

The department would adopt and enforce rules designed to limit foods containing certain additives identified by the panel as harmful. The rules would cover food containing food or color additives that the panel identifies as having a harmful effect based on its review of combined effects. The department would coordinate with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The panel or a petitioner would have to provide data showing that a rule is needed and would not harm public health. These rules could not cover homemade food or homemade food products sold under state law. The draft gives no start date for these rules; they would follow the panel’s findings and the department’s rulemaking.