By: Brian A. Fink, Hillary Hughes
Louisiana’s SB 14, signed into law on June 20, 2025, takes a different approach from Texas. Effective January 1, 2028, any food sold in Louisiana containing any of 44 specified ingredients (many overlapping with Texas’ list) must include a QR code on the packaging. For foods sold in a multi-unit package, the code must be placed on the outer container.
A statement adjacent to the code must inform consumers that additional ingredient information can be accessed by scanning the code. The QR code must direct consumers to ingredient information on a manufacturer-controlled website, which must contain in a prominent place on the webpage a disclaimer, such as:
“NOTICE: This product contains [name of ingredient]. For more information about this ingredient, including FDA approvals, click HERE.”
The linked page must provide access to FDA’s food-chemical safety information.
Like Texas, this law applies to food offered for sale in Louisiana, regardless of its source. The law does not apply to dietary supplements, alcoholic beverages as defined under Louisiana law and food prepared and labeled in a retail food establishment, among other exempted products. Penalties for noncompliance may include civil fines, injunctions and other remedies available under the state’s Sanitary Code.
Adding QR codes (on top of Texas’ warning and disclosures and warnings required in other circumstances, such as for California’s Proposition 65 or USDA’s National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard) and maintaining updated disclosure webpages will create recurring operational costs. Firms that quickly adopt transparent digital disclosures may build trust with consumers and regulators.
Operationally, companies must conduct product-line audits to identify SKUs containing listed additives for food products they offer for sale in Texas and Louisiana and plan label redesigns well before the 2027 and 2028 deadlines. Firms selling through e-commerce must also ensure that online product pages carry the relevant disclosures.
For assistance evaluating compliance obligations under SB 14, please contact Foster Garvey's Food & Beverage team.
This issue is part of a broader wave of state and federal food initiatives. Read the full update here.
