US regulator bans red dye No. 3 from food supply
US regulators have banned a dye called Red 3 from the nation’s food supply, decades after it was restricted in the European Union.
The dye is known as erythrosine, FD&C Red No. 3, or Red 3, and has been used in the US to give some candies, snack cakes, and maraschino cherries a bright red hue.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it was banning the substance because some studies have found that it caused cancer in lab rats.
In 1990, those concerns led the FDA to say that Red 3 could not be used in cosmetics and topical medicines. At the time, the dye was already allowed in food.
Related
The new ban removes it from the list of approved colour additives in foods, dietary supplements, and oral medicines, such as cough syrups.
Officials cited a statute known as the Delaney Clause, which requires FDA to ban any additive found to cause cancer in people or animals.
“Evidence shows cancer in laboratory male rats exposed to high levels of FD&C Red No. 3,” said Jim Jones, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for human foods.
“Importantly, the way that FD&C Red No. 3 causes cancer in male rats does not occur in humans”.
Red 3 is banned as a food additive in the European Union, Australia, and New Zealand, except in cocktail cherries, and will be banned in California starting in January 2027.
Related
The FDA decision comes after two dozen food safety and health advocates filed a petition in 2022 urging the agency to revoke its authorisation. In November, nearly two dozen members of Congress also demanded a ban on Red 3.
Food manufacturers will have until January 2027 to remove the dye from their products, while makers of ingested drugs have until January 2028 to do the same.
Other countries still allow for certain uses of the dye, but imported foods must meet the new US requirement.
Consumer advocates praised the decision, calling it “long overdue”.
Related
But the ban could face legal challenges from food manufacturers because evidence hasn’t determined that the dye causes cancer when consumed by humans.
The International Association of Color Manufacturers defends the dye, saying that it is safe in levels typically consumed by humans. The group points to research by scientific committees operated by the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO), including a 2018 review that reaffirmed the safety of Red 3 in food.
Some food manufacturers have already reformulated products to remove Red 3.
In its place they use beet juice; carmine, a dye made from insects; and pigments from foods such as purple sweet potato, radish, and red cabbage, according to Sensient Food Colors, a US-based supplier of food colours and flavourings.
