ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS – States findings of the Legislature and urges federal lawmakers to prohibit inclusion of artificial sweeteners in school meal programs.

Idaho's legislature passed HJM 10, a joint memorial urging federal agencies to prohibit six artificial sweeteners - specifically aspartame, acesulfame potassium, advantame, neotame, saccharin, and sucralose - from school meal programs under federal law. The bill cites insufficient long-term research on children's health impacts and Idaho's economic ties to sugar beets (a $1 billion industry) as reasons to support natural sugar alternatives. It does not create new law but formally requests the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Health and Human Services to ban these sweeteners in school nutrition programs. The resolution directly affects federal policy on school meals, not state regulations.