Sponsor
Max Miller
Representative · R-OH
Representative · R-OH
The bill seeks to build domestic markets and supply-chain capacity for natural food color ingredients—boosting farm revenue and food-system resilience—while risking higher costs for producers and consumers, potential environmental and market-concentration pressures, and reallocation of USDA research resources.
U.S. farmers (especially specialty and rural growers) will gain new, potentially higher-value markets and revenue by supplying ingredients for natural food color additives, supported by USDA research and industry collaboration.
Domestic cultivation of natural color inputs and collaboration with food industry partners will strengthen supply chains and diversify inputs, increasing resilience and competitiveness of the U.S. food supply.
Consumers and the public will benefit from reliance on objective, science- and risk-based evaluation of food color additives, which can support public health protections and consumer trust.
Some food producers and consumers could face higher costs if cultivating or processing natural color ingredients is more expensive than existing inputs, raising retail prices or squeezing small producers' margins.
Shifting USDA research priorities and resources toward natural color additive development could divert limited funding and staff away from other agricultural research needs.
Farmers who specialize in crops for color additives face greater market and production risk if demand fluctuates, potentially increasing income volatility for those producers.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Directs USDA to promote and research domestic production of agricultural ingredients for natural food color additives and coordinate with partners to expand supply capacity.
Official title: To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to take certain steps to enhance the capacity of United States farmers to produce natural color additives, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 13, 2025 by Max Miller · Last progress May 13, 2025
Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to expand U.S. farmers’ capacity to grow, produce, and harvest crops and other agricultural goods that can be used as natural food color additives. It asks USDA to coordinate with other federal agencies, producers, and food industry partners and to use existing research capabilities to support cultivation, production, and scaling of natural color ingredient supply chains.