The FDA Formally Banned Crimson Dye No. 3 From Use in Meals, Drinks, and Medicines

It is official: The Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) has banned Crimson Dye No. 3 in meals, drinks, and ingested medication within the U.S.

The Washington Publish reported that Crimson dye No. 3 should be faraway from meals merchandise by mid-January 2027 and from ingested medication in 2028. The FDA famous on its web site that it used the Delaney Clause, which prohibits components discovered to trigger most cancers in people, as the idea for the ban.

“The Delaney Clause is obvious; the FDA can’t authorize a meals additive or shade additive if it has been discovered to trigger most cancers in people or animals,” Jim Jones, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for human meals, mentioned in a press release shared with reporters. 

As for what, precisely, will probably be faraway from, the FDA famous that Crimson No. 3 has been “primarily utilized in sure meals merchandise, resembling sweet, muffins and cupcakes, cookies, frozen desserts, and frostings and icings,” that means your store-bought sweet will doubtless are available slightly little bit of a unique hue in a couple of years. 

In 2022, Shopper Experiences signed a petition led by the Middle for Science within the Public Curiosity calling for a ban of Crimson Dye 3, and in October of 2024, Shopper Experiences additionally delivered a petition signed by greater than 80,000 shoppers asking the FDA for the ban. Now, the group says it is “applauding” the FDA’s resolution. 

“Crimson Dye 3 poses an unacceptable threat to our well being, particularly when safer options are available,” Brian Ronholm, director of meals coverage at Shopper Experiences, shared in a press release offered to Meals & Wine. “By banning Crimson Dye 3, the FDA will shield the general public by encouraging producers to change to safer components already utilized in merchandise offered in Europe and quite a few different nations.”

Nonetheless, the group added that it’ll proceed to press the FDA to ban different artificial meals dyes linked to neurobehavioral issues. It pointed to a 2021 research by the California Workplace of Environmental Well being Hazard Evaluation, which discovered that many meals dyes and colorants — together with the six dyes now banned below the California College Meals Security Act — may make youngsters extra susceptible to behavioral difficulties.
 
“Many artificial meals dyes are allowed in meals however haven’t been reviewed for security by the FDA in a long time regardless of current research which have linked the chemical compounds to critical well being issues,” Ronholm added. “It’s time for the FDA to meet up with the most recent science and get these dangerous chemical compounds out of our meals.”