Red Coloring Linked to Cancer Risk Banned in US Foods

01The U.S.

02Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, has banned a chemical widely used to color some food products red.

03The ban of the coloring chemical, called dye, came nearly 35 years after it was removed from skin products because of a possible cancer risk.

04A group of food safety and health supporters issued a petition in 2022 seeking to have the FDA ban red number 3 in food.

05The earlier ban was ordered in 1990, after two studies showed red number 3 caused cancer in male rats eating high levels of the chemical.

06At the time, however, the FDA only acted to ban the coloring mixture in products put on the skin or in drugs taken by mouth.

07Health activists had long sought FDA approval to expand the ban to food products.

08In November, nearly two dozen members of Congress sent a letter demanding that FDA officials ban red number 3.

09Some of the most common products containing red number 3 include sweets, icing, strawberry milk, maraschino cherries, strawberry protein drinks, as well as some gummy vitamins and medications.

10The FDA said food manufacturers will have until January 2027 to remove the dye from their products.

11Other countries still permit certain uses of the dye.

12But any imported products will still have to meet the new U.S.

13requirement.

14Red number 3 is already banned for food use in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, except in certain kinds of cherries.

15The dye will be banned in California starting in January 2027.

16And lawmakers in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Indiana have also proposed limits on certain dyes, especially from foods offered in public schools.

17Jim Jones is the FDA's Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods.

18He noted that even though the agency had established the new ban, the way that FD&C Red number 3 causes cancer in male rats does not occur in humans.

19FDA officials said the ban was enacted because of a U.S.

20rule called the Delaney Clause.

21Dr.

22Peter Lurie is director of the Consumer Activist Group, the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

23He helped lead the latest effort to remove Red number 3 from the food products.

24Larry told the Associated Press, this is a welcome but long overdue action from the FDA.

25The International Association of Color Manufacturers has repeatedly said Red number 3 is safe in levels usually taken in by humans.

26The group pointed to research carried out by scientific experts from the United Nations and the World Health Organization.

27One study, released in 2018, confirmed the safety of Red 3 in food.

28Some food manufacturers have already changed their products to remove Red number 3.

29One example is Sentient Food Colors, a St.

30Louis-based supplier of food colors and flavorings.

31In its place, the company uses beet juice, a dye made from insects and other coloring mixtures.

32I'm Jill Robbins.