A common food additive that has been linked to health issues has been banned in the United States.
The Food and Drug Administration revealed on Wednesday that Red No. 3 — an aesthetic dye used in candy, cherries, breakfast cereals, and other red-tinted food and drink — has had its approval for safe use revoked. Companies will have until Jan. 15 of 2027 to reformulate any food or drink products in order to sell them legally in the U.S.
As NBC News detailed, consumer advocacy groups have long called for the use of the additive to cease, with evidence that it may cause cancer or lead to behavioral changes in children. The state of California has already banned the substance, along with several other additives, and recently banned six other food dyes from use in public schools.
Thomas Galligan, the principal scientist for food additives at the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), told The Cool Down that Red 3 has "been shown to cause cancer in rats." Red 3 and most other artificial food dyes are made from petroleum.
"The FDA itself determined that Red No. 3 is an animal carcinogen back in 1990, and they have been obligated to ban it ever since," said Galligan, who has a PhD in biomedical sciences, in December. "They're obligated under federal law to ban any cancer-causing color or food additive. And they just have failed to do so for now approaching 35 years."
Meanwhile, a 2021 study from the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, summarized by CNN, noted it could lead to decreased attention levels in children and may also impact brain health.
Dr. Peter Lurie, president of the CSPI, told NBC News the ban is a positive move for the nation's health.
"It removes an unnecessary hazard from the American food supply, and we welcome that action, even though it should have occurred more than three decades ago," Dr. Lurie said.
What makes the delay in banning the additive from food more confusing is that the FDA ended its use in cosmetic products in 1990, as NBC News observed. Some individual states have also moved forward with legislation in an attempt to ban the dye from food production.
Still, the long-anticipated FDA intervention means the U.S. has joined a list of countries, including Australia, Japan, and nations within the European Union, that prevent the use of Red 3 in food or at least require significant warnings on the packaging.
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Cheapest option 💰 Consumers should still be on the lookout for edible items containing this additive, though. Food manufacturers have another two years to find alternative ingredients for their products, while companies that make dietary supplements and ingested drugs will have an extra year on top of that.
Red 3 is even added to certain kinds of cherries, further emphasizing the benefits of growing your own food to be certain you know exactly what has and has not been added to it. In fact, according to the CSPI and The Washington Post, the maraschino cherry industry began fighting the FDA on a possible ban of Red 3 in 1989, a resistance effort that is largely to blame for the ban not happening for several decades.
With that in mind, the new ban is "a really important win for public health and for consumers," Galligan told The Cool Down on Wednesday.
"It's a long overdue step by the FDA, and we're really glad that the agency has finally taken this step," he said. "It's important to note, though, that Red 3 is a symptom of a broader problem. So this is just one step in a long list of steps the FDA needs take to fully fix the food chemical regulatory system in this country."
On that note, check out TCD's in-depth article on the potential health risks of Red 3 and all other actively used artificial food dyes, and see Consumer Reports' petition to ask the FDA to ban the six remaining major synthetic dyes.
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