The vibrancy of cherries and the jovial cheer of colorful candy will have to get their vibrant shades from other sources. After years of processing, the FDA finally made the ban on Red Dye No. 3 official, a shift that is a step-by-step process to research and combat carcinogenic food additives still widely used in the food supply.

The ban forbids the use of Red Dye No. 3 in all drugs, drinks, and digestible foods. However, the removal of the dye will not be immediate. The FDA gave the food and drug industries a grace period, giving them a deadline of January 2027 to completely remove the substance from the market and consumer shelves.

People have been coloring their foods throughout history, creating visual appeal or brightening the dullness of certain foods. Yet the artificial dyes that were introduced to the market in the 60s, 70s, and 80s are largely petroleum-based and have been linked to causing allergic reactions and cancer in many animal studies.
Of the initial forty-two synthetic dyes on the market, only eight artificial dyes are still on the market marked as safe for human consumption. Yet future trends in American food choices may propel further food color bans. Many of the colors still on the list are banned in other parts of the world.

While you may think that banning one color from a myriad of dyes isn’t earth-shattering, it definitely ruffles the drug and food industry’s feathers. There are around 3,000 products on the market that use Red Dye No 3. It’s the dye that gives M&M’s their vibrant red coloring and brightens up the red in a jar of maraschino cherries. Still, these are only two examples in a menagerie of items, primarily in canned or jarred fruits, candies, and beverages.
Even with a step towards a safer food supply, Red Dye No. 3 is a drop in the bucket. Within the list of artificial food dyes, Red Dye No. 40, Yellow Dye No. 5, and Yellow Dye No. 6 make up almost ninety percent of the usage in the drug and food supply. Mars, General Mills, and Kellogg’s (companies that use artificial dyes in many of their cereals and candies) have been on record saying they’d remove artificial colors from their products. Mars and General Mills made the statements in 2016 and Kellogg’s in 2019, but these three haven’t fulfilled that goal. With this ban set in stone, these companies will hopefully start, like many others, removing the artificial dyes with each new ruling and ban.











