FDA bans Red Dye No. 3 in foods

January 15, 2025 Brooklyn Eagle Staff
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NATIONWIDE — RED DYE No. 3 HAS BEEN BANNED as an ingredient in many foods and medicines, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration announced Wednesday, Jan. 15. Known as erythrosine, FD&C Red No. 3 can be found in certain foods and candies, including maraschino cherries, gummies, licorice, peppermint candies and cough syrups. The newly-declared ban removes Red No. 3 from the list of approved color additives in foods, dietary supplements and oral medicines, about 35 years after the FDA declined to authorize this dye in cosmetics and topical drugs after a study was released linking it to cancer in rats. Officials cited the Delaney Clause, which requires FDA to ban any additive found to cause cancer in people or animals. The push by food safety and health advocates, articulated in a 2022 petition, also contributed to the new ban. Even more recently, on Dec. 4, 2024, Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), part of a coalition of almost two dozen Congressmembers, authored a letter to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, M.D., urging him to ban this particular colorant.

Food manufacturers will have until January 2027 to remove the dye from their products. Pharmaceutical firms manufacturing ingested medicines have a January 2028 deadline for this.

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