The Food and Drug Administration has banned Red No. 3, a food dye that is commonly used in candy, sports drinks, gum and cookies. It has been banned in cosmetics and topical drugs for 35 years but for whatever reason, it has been allowed to be in our foods.
The ban won’t take effect until 2027 so food makers have some time to reformulate their products. The FDA says that it is doing this because “two studies… showed cancer in laboratory male rats exposed to high levels of FD&C Red No. 3 due to a rat specific hormonal mechanism.” But, they say, that “the way that FD&C Red No. 3 causes cancer in male rats does not occur in humans.” Still, the Delaney Clause prohibits the FDA from authorizing any food or color additive that has been found to cause cancer in either humans or animals so they are using this as a reasoning to ban the product.
It is interesting timing. This dye has long been known to be harmful but the FDA has decided to do it in advance of the next Trump administration and the MAHA movement which has demanded a safer food supply. Is this a harbinger of what is to come and a willingness by the FDA to do its job now?
