Marshmallow Peeps contained red color no. 3. The company removed Red 3 from … [+]
The Food and Drug Administration is banning the color Red no. 3 in food and oral medicinal products. The substance gives a cherry-red hue to some foods and medicines. The FDA ban comes on the eve of potentially bigger changes to the food industry under the incoming Trump administration. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nominee to be the next Secretary of Health and Human Services, is signaling that he wants to reshape the food industry.
The FDA released two major rules on Wednesday. The first lowers the permitted levels of nicotine in cigarettes. The second stops the red color no. 3 – also known as erythrosine, a coloring additive made from petroleum – from foods, dietary supplements and oral medicines, such as cough syrups.
Food manufacturers will have until January 2027 to reformulate their products. Manufacturers of oral drugs have until January 2028 to do the same. The new rule concerns more than 3,200 food and medicinal products that contain the so-called Red 3.
Officials at the agency cite a statute known as the Delaney Clause, first passed in 1960, which requires the FDA to ban any additive found to cause cancer in humans or animals. Jim Jones, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for human foods, said that while there is no evidence that Red 3 causes cancer in humans, the data “shows cancer in male laboratory rats exposed to high levels of Red No. 3.”
While it has been known for at least 30 years that Red 3 is carcinogenic to rats, and the European Union has largely banned Red 3 as a food additive since 1994, it is not known why the FDA decided to act only now, especially after the agency had removed Red 3 from the list of additives approved in cosmetics 35 years ago, due to the risk of cancer. The FDA says its decision yesterday was made in response to a petition filed by more than 20 food safety and health advocates in 2022, who asked the agency to revoke Red 3’s authorization. However, the FDA chose to wait for ban the substance in food and medicine until this week.
The food industry is a key area in which RFK Jr. will likely seek to bring about major changes if confirmed as HHS Secretary. He has pledged to restructure the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. Kennedy has even suggested that he would fire food scientists at the FDA once he was in office. While the FDA regularly reviews the safety of food additives based on what the agency views as rigorous science and research, Kennedy has countered that the FDA is not “protecting our children.”
In addition to pushing for a ban on certain dyes, such as Red 3, and other additives, Kennedy has advocated for reducing the use of pesticides in agriculture, eliminating ultra-processed foods and curbing the use of other products that he says harm Americans’ health. . Kennedy says he wants to “fix” a food ecosystem that he describes as captured by corporate interests.
Whether he will be able to achieve this remains to be seen. Challenging the interests of the powerful food industry will not be easy, as New York Times reports. Even a ban as seemingly innocuous as the one the FDA is now imposing could face legal challenges from manufacturers. Still, it appears the FDA’s ban on Red 3, implemented in the waning days of the Biden administration, is a blow to the food industry that may ironically help ease Kennedy’s quest for further changes.
