Food safety experts have expressed concern that so many of the products containing the dye are marketed to children, who are especially vulnerable to developmental harm. The FDA estimates that children ages 2 to 5 in the U.S. consume twice as much Red Dye No. 3 as the rest of the American public, by body weight.
In 2022, Consumer Reports joined a petition to the FDA calling for the agency to ban Red Dye No. 3. Then in October 2024, CR delivered another petition to the FDA, signed by 80,000 concerned consumers, urging the same.
Meanwhile, local regulators took action: In 2023, California banned Red Dye No. 3 from all food sold or manufactured in the state, and more states may follow.
Food manufacturers will have until Jan. 15, 2027, to reformulate their products.
For CR’s food safety experts, the FDA’s move is better late than never. “By banning Red Dye No. 3, the FDA will protect the public by encouraging manufacturers to switch to safer ingredients already used in products sold in Europe and numerous other countries,” says Brian Ronholm, director of food policy at Consumer Reports. “Red Dye No. 3 poses an unacceptable risk to our health, especially when safer alternatives are readily available.”
Ronholm adds that the FDA still needs to do more. Many other common artificial ingredients have also been linked to health harms. California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment released a study in 2021 linking several other artificial food colorants to potential neurobehavioral effects in children (PDF). These include Red Dye No. 40, Yellow Dye No. 5, Yellow Dye No. 6, Blue Dye No. 1, Blue Dye No. 2, and Green Dye No. 3.
