California lawmakers have voted to ban food additives linked to behavioral issues in kids from school lunchrooms. 

That means snacks like Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, Twinkies and more will no longer be allowed in school cafeterias across the state. Stores may still sell the food products, though, under the first-of-its-kind legislation, called the California School Food Safety Act.

The controversial ingredients include food dyes Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 3, Red 40, Yellow 5 And Yellow 6, which give color to snacks like Doritos, Froot Loops and Fruity Pebbles cereals and Jolly Ranchers candy. Advocates for the ban argue the additives have no nutritional value, are used solely for superficial purposes, and can cause health problems. 

Red 3 has been found to cause cancer in animals and Red 40, Yellow 5 And Yellow 6, have been found to be contaminated with carcinogens like benzidine, which can increase one’s risk of developing cancer, according to a 2012 study from the National Institutes of Health. 

California Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, the bill’s author, said the legislation could prompt changes in how these types of “dangerous” foods are marketed to children beyond California, and could even lead to companies changing the way they formulate such snacks.

“As a lawmaker, a parent and someone who struggled with ADHD, I find it unacceptable that we allow schools to serve foods with additives that are linked to hyperactivity and neurobehavioral harms,” Gabriel said in a statement Friday. “This bill will empower schools to better protect the health and well-being of our kids and encourage manufacturers to stop using these harmful additives.”  

Indeed, the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment found in 2021 that “consumption of synthetic food dyes can result in hyperactivity and other neurobehavioral problems in some children.”

California’s State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said the bill sets new standards for school meals. 

“Healthy, safe school meals are foundational to our students’ well-being and ability to learn. As someone who depended on school meals growing up, I know how critical it is that our children receive food at school that is nutritious and is never harmful,” Thurmond said Thursday in a statement. “AB 2316 is an important step forward to ensure that California’s schools are healthy and equitable learning environments for all.”

The bill, which is now headed to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk, does not ban particular food products, but takes aim at the six substances linked to behavioral issues in kids. It goes into effect Dec. 31, 2027. 

Neither Frito Lay, which makes Cheetos, Doritos and other snack chips, nor Twinkies-maker Hostess, immediately responded to CBS MoneyWatch’s requests for comment. 

By Shariq Khan

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Last month’s CrowdStrike IT outage that grounded scores of flights created new problems for California’s fuel market, forcing U.S. traders to store jet fuel destined for the state on waterborne tankers, storage broker The Tank Tiger told Reuters this week.

The outage exacerbated existing constraints on petroleum storage in California, where policies aimed at ending fossil fuel usage have made it harder to setup new oil and gas infrastructure.

“When it comes to petroleum products storage in California, there has been no room at the inn for several years,” Ernie Barsamian, founder of U.S. terminal storage clearinghouse, The Tank Tiger said on Wednesday.

But California’s location on the U.S. West Coast makes it a major petroleum trading hub, keeping demand high. That opens the region to outsized fuel price shocks during periods of disruptions, such as the IT outage or refinery snags.

“Despite prevailing demand, permitting for new storage tanks (in California) is a cumbersome process,” Barsamian said. As a result, storage costs in California are twice as high as trading hubs in New York Harbor or Houston, he said.

California’s Certified Unified Program Agency, responsible for implementing the state’s Aboveground Petroleum Storage Act Program, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

When flights were grounded in July, the unconsumed jet fuel could not find a home in California, and had to be re-positioned to waterborne locations off the coasts of Houston and New Orleans, Barsamian said.

Traders use ships as storage only as a last-resort when land storage is full or unavailable, as keeping the vessels in use longer delays their journeys, tightening the market and increasing costs.

Jet fuel inventories in onshore tanks dotting the U.S. West Coast shot up to over 12 million barrels in the week ended July 26, a record high. The CrowdStrike outage began on July 19.

Strong demand for the product has led to West Coast imports increasing significantly this year, analysts at ship-tracking service Kpler said. That has kept inventories higher than normal this year.

West Coast imports from within the U.S. and outside have averaged about 135,000 barrels a day this year, about 25,000 bpd higher than last year, Kpler data showed.

West Coast jet fuel stocks stood at 11.8 million barrels last week, nearly 28% higher than last year.

(Reporting by Shariq Khan in New York; Editing by Aurora Ellis)