FDA bans red no. 3 dye because of its link to cancer in rats

A type of red dye used in many foods and medicines has been banned by the US Food and Drug Administration because studies suggest it can cause cancer in rats.

The FDA is revoke his permission for use of red no. 3 dye, which gives the products a “bright, cherry red color.” Food and beverage manufacturers have until January 15, 2027 to reformulate their products, and drug manufacturers have until January 18, 2028 to remove it from their products.

MORE: Black mothers in Philly remain far more likely to have unexpected complications during childbirth, the report says

This ban is in response to a Petition 2022 who referenced two studies linking cancer in male rats with high levels of red 3 exposure. The way the dye causes cancer in rats cannot occur in humans, the FDA noted, adding that there has been no scientific evidence to show that the dye can cause cancer in other animals or humans.

But that one Delaney clause in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act requires the FDA to ban additives that can cause cancer in animals or humans. The chemical was already banned from being used in cosmetic products more than three decades ago.

“This is a welcome but long overdue action by the FDA: removing the unsustainable double standard where Red 3 was banned from lipstick but allowed in candy,” Peter Lurie, director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest Group, who led the petition effort , told Associated Press.

Red 3 is primarily used in candies, cakes, cupcakes, cookies, frozen desserts, frostings and ingested medications, according to the FDA. Specific products that have listed Red 3 in recent years include some types of Fruit by the Foot, Dubble Bubble gum, Entenmann’s Little Bites, Hostess Ding Dongs, Nestle strawberry milk, Jordan almonds, Pez candies, Brach’s candy corn, Ringpops and Tylenol PM, Forbes reported. It still exists in thousands of goods on the shelves in America, but the FDA estimates that Red 3 “is not as widespread in food and medicine compared to other certified colors.”

Some companies have taken steps to phase out the use of Red 3 in recent years. That’s what Just Born, the Pennsylvania-headquartered maker of Peeps, said New York Times in 2023 that only two varieties of its marshmallow candies (pink and lavender) would be made using the dye in 2024. After that, the dye would be phased out of all its products, Just Born said.

The FDA banned the use of Red 3 in cosmetics and topical medications in 1990.

In 2023, California became the first state to ban the dye in food, citing the rat research as well as a 2021 study that linked Red 3 and other dyes to behavioral problems in some children, the New York Times reported. California’s law takes effect in 2027. Red 3 is already banned for use in food in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, except in certain kinds of cherries, the Associated Press reported.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, has been a supporter of prohibition many of the artificial colors and ingredients found in food and drink.