On December 23, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia granted a motion for a preliminary injunction that temporarily pauses a key provision of West Virginia's law banning certain food additives. As we previously discussed, a provision of HB 2354 would prohibit, starting January 1, 2028, the sale of food items containing ingredients "poisonous and injurious to the health," including the preservatives butylated hydroxyanisole and propylparaben, as well as the following artificial food dyes:
- Red Dye No. 3
- Red Dye No. 40
- Yellow Dye No. 5
- Yellow Dye No. 6
- Blue Dye No. 1
- Blue Dye No. 2
- Green Dye No. 3
In granting the preliminary injunction, the court found that the plaintiffs would likely succeed on their claim that this provision is unconstitutionally vague because it provides no standards for identifying additional additives as "poisonous and injurious," fails to give notice for the inclusion of additional additives, and permits arbitrary enforcement. Accordingly, enforcement of this provision is on hold while the parties continue to litigate the case.
Importantly, the injunction does not affect the section of HB 2354 that prohibits the use of the same dyes as an ingredient in any meal served in a school nutrition program (with limited exceptions), which went into effect August 1, 2025.
