The United States is waving goodbye to red dye. On Wednesday, officials banned the ingredient called Red 3 from the food supply.
Here’s the thing. Red 3 was already illegal to use in makeup. People knew it caused cancer in lab rats. The makeup law was made 35 years ago. Even so, it was still perfectly legal to add the dye to food.
In 2022, people worked to change the rule. They wrote a petition asking the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to outlaw the dye. Previously, the FDA said that the way the dye causes cancer in rats does not happen in humans. Now FDA officials have agreed to make a change. A law called the Delaney Clause says any cancer-causing ingredients must be banned.
Red 3 gives a bright red color to certain candies, snack cakes, and maraschino cherries.
Check ingredient labels of reddish foods. You’ve got Red 3 if you see any of these names listed:
- Erythrosine
- FD&C Red No. 3
- Red 3
It’s also illegal now for Red 3 to color medicines.
Food manufacturers will have until January 2027 to remove the dye from their products. Medicine makers will have until January 2028. Other countries still allow for certain uses of the dye. But foods shipped to America will have to follow the law too.
Red 3 is already banned for food use in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand—except in certain kinds of cherries.
Officials at the International Association of Color Manufacturers object. They claim Red 3 is safe in the amounts most humans eat. Other people say the dye is not safe, especially for children.
Time to start reading some labels. Does anything in your cupboards contain Red 3? Or have products you use already made the switch to other dyes? In the place of Red 3, foods can use:
- beet juice,
- carmine, a dye made from insects
- pigments from foods such as purple sweet potato, radish, and red cabbage
- annatto, a deep orange-red spice with some cancer-fighter benefits
Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. — 3 John 1:2
