KNOW YOUR HEALTH
New York just passed the most aggressive food chemical reform law in the country — the same week a federal bill dropped that would erase it.
That's not a coincidence. The industry lobby behind the federal bill formed last year for exactly this purpose. This week's issue is one story told five ways: states are leading, the feds are catching up or actively blocking them, and the gap in the middle is where Sam lives.
IN THIS ISSUE
🔬 Big Story: New York banned three food chemicals. Congress is moving to make sure no other state can.
🧪 Ingredient Spotlight: A supplement company told the FDA "no." The capsules are still on shelves.
📊 Research Desk: A Cochrane review just punctured the intermittent fasting hype.
🏛 Policy Watch: ProPublica: foreign food inspections have collapsed.
✅ Practical Take: How to actually read an FDA recall notice — using this week's cantaloupe upgrade.
FOLLOW THE MONEY
New York banned three food chemicals. A federal bill would make sure no other state can.
On April 21, the New York Assembly passed the Food Safety and Chemical Disclosure Act 106–32. The Senate had already passed it unanimously a month earlier. It now sits on Governor Hochul's desk, and if she signs, New York becomes the most aggressive state in the country on food chemical reform.
What the bill actually does. It bans three substances from food sold in New York: Red Dye 3, potassium bromate (a flour treatment), and propylparaben (a preservative). All three are already banned across the EU. More importantly, it forces companies to disclose the safety data behind any ingredient they've quietly self-affirmed as "Generally Recognized as Safe" — a loophole the industry has used since 1958 to put roughly 10,000 chemicals into the food supply without FDA review.
Then this happened. The same week the bill passed, the federal FRESH Act picked up momentum on Capitol Hill. Backed by a lobby called Americans for Ingredient Transparency — which formed in late 2025 specifically to do this — FRESH would preempt every state food chemical law on the books, retroactively. New York, California, West Virginia, the school food dye laws, the PFAS-in-packaging bans. All gone. Wiped out by federal override.
Why this matters. The pitch is "consistency for consumers." The reality is that the federal government has barely moved on food chemicals in two decades, while states have been doing the actual work. EWG, CSPI, and a Harvard Law School analysis all came to the same conclusion this month: FRESH would gut food safety, not improve it.
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
Addall XL: the supplement company that told the FDA "no"
In January, the FDA caught ZMB Enterprises selling two products — Addall XR shot and Addall XL capsules — that contained ingredients not on the label. The shot had Phenibut and undeclared 1,4-DMAA. The capsules had DMHA and 1,4-DMAA.
DMAA and DMHA are stimulants. Both have been linked to elevated blood pressure, chest tightness, and heart attack. Neither is legal in dietary supplements.
ZMB agreed to recall the shots. They refused to recall the capsules. The capsules are still being sold — gas stations, smoke shops, online — under the same brand name.
The mechanism nobody talks about. The FDA cannot force a dietary supplement recall. They can issue a public alert, send a warning letter, and ask nicely. That's it. Under the 1994 supplement law, recalls are voluntary unless the agency can prove imminent danger in court — a bar so high it's almost never used.
LAB NOTES
Cochrane just punctured the intermittent fasting hype
A new Cochrane review — the gold standard in evidence synthesis — looked at every randomized trial of intermittent fasting it could find. The headline finding: IF doesn't beat regular caloric restriction for weight loss. Same results, different schedule.
The honest caveat the headlines missed. The review pooled every flavor of IF together — 16:8, alternate-day, 5:2, time-restricted eating with an early window vs. a late one. Experts at the Science Media Centre flagged this as a methodological problem. These are not interchangeable protocols, and lumping them together can hide real effects in specific approaches (early time-restricted eating, in particular, has its own evidence base).
What this actually means. If you're doing IF and it works for you because you eat less overall, keep going. If you're doing it because an influencer promised metabolic magic, the evidence isn't there. The fasting window isn't doing something special. The calorie reduction is.
Try this instead: Stop eating three hours before bed. That single change captures most of the legitimate benefit of time-restricted eating without requiring you to white-knuckle through breakfast.
THE FINE PRINT
ProPublica: foreign food inspections just collapsed
A ProPublica investigation published this month found that U.S. inspections of foreign food facilities have hit a historic low in 2026. The cause: staffing cuts at the FDA. The agency that's supposed to inspect the factories that make a meaningful share of America's imported food has been gutted to the point where individual investigators are now booking their own flights, applying for their own diplomatic passports, and waiting on more than $1 million in stranded expense reimbursements.
What inspectors did find when they could get there is bleak: crawfish on cracked, stained conveyor belts in China; dripping pipes; falsified pathogen test results.
Why this connects to the Big Story. When the federal food safety system is breaking down — and inspectors are the actual frontline — states stepping in isn't redundant. It's necessary. This is the gap the FRESH Act would lock shut.
Reader implication: Country-of-origin labeling is mandatory on most fresh produce, fish, and meat. It's not a guarantee of anything, but it's a data point. Check origin labels →
YOUR MOVE
A 4-step guide to reading an FDA recall notice (using this week's cantaloupe upgrade)
On April 20, the FDA upgraded a cantaloupe Salmonella recall to Class I — the most serious tier, meaning consumption could cause severe illness or death. The recall was already out. The upgrade is the FDA's way of saying this is the one to actually pay attention to.
Most people see the headline and panic, or see it and ignore it. Both reactions miss what the notice actually tells you. Here's the four-step read.
RECALL STEPS:
Check the class.
Class I = serious or fatal.
Class II = temporary or reversible health effect.
Class III = unlikely to cause harm.
The class is buried but it's the most important number on the page.
Match every identifier — not just the brand. Recalls are specific. The April 20 cantaloupe recall lists 28 different lot numbers. If your fruit's lot doesn't match, it's not part of the recall. Look for: brand, product description, packaging size, sell-by date, lot number, EST number (for meat).
Check the "where it was sold" section. Most recalls are regional. If the product was distributed only to the West Coast and you're in Pennsylvania, you're almost certainly fine — but verify with the retailer you bought from.
Don't return it. Throw it out — or refund it back. The FDA's standard guidance is: throw away or return for refund. If it's a contamination risk, double-bag it. Don't compost it.
WHAT ELSE IS COOKING
The BHA comment window just closed. April 13 was the deadline for public input on the FDA's safety reassessment of butylated hydroxyanisole, the preservative in cereals, chips, gum, and meat products. Next: FDA decides whether to act. Background →
USDA flagged Quality Meat Sky Ranch beef and pork for undeclared sesame. Sold at Lotte Plaza Market locations in FL, MD, NJ, and VA. No formal recall — the products are out of distribution — but check your freezer. Alert →
The color manufacturers are suing. The International Association for Color Manufacturers filed suit against West Virginia's food dye ban this month, calling it "unconstitutionally vague." Expect more suits as more states pass similar laws. Background →
Mars, General Mills, Kraft Heinz, Nestle, Smucker, and Conagra all promised to phase out synthetic dyes — on different timelines between 2026 and 2027. Public commitments. Worth holding them to. Tracker →
RFK Jr. faces Congress this week for the first time in over seven months. Expect food chemical questions, MAHA implementation status, and the staffing-cuts-vs-mission gap to come up. KFF Health News →
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The Tox Report is an independent publication. We are not affiliated with any food, pharmaceutical, or supplement company. Content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice.