FDA bans red dye no. 3 in foods, decades after additive found to cause cancer in rats

The Food and Drug Administration banned the use of Red Dye No. 3 in food on Wednesday, more than 30 years after the additive was found to cause cancer in rats. 

Advocates have been calling on the FDA to ban the additive for years. In 2022, they filed a petition asking the agency to remove it from its list of color additives that are “generally recognized as safe.” Jim Jones, top food regulator at the FDA, said at a Congressional hearing in December that the agency was hoping to make a decision in the next few weeks.

“Today’s action by the FDA marks a monumental victory for consumer health and safety,” Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, which was among the groups that had petitioned for the ban, said in a press release. “This ban sends a strong message that protecting the health of Americans — especially vulnerable children — must always take priority over the narrow interests of the food industry.”

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