The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday banned the synthetic dye called Red No. 3, which is used in many foods and beverages to give them a cherry-like color but which some studies have been found to cause cancer in laboratory animals.
The FDA’s decision follows years of campaigning by consumer advocacy groups and activists.
The dye is used for candy, cereals, canned cherries for cocktails and even strawberry-flavored milkshakes, according to the group Center for Science in the Public Interest, one of those that asked the FDA to review the issue.
Food manufacturers will have until January 15, 2027 to reformulate their products accordingly.
“The FDA cannot authorize the use of an additive or coloring if studies have found it causes cancer in humans or animals,” Jim Jones, the agency’s deputy director for human foods, said in a statement. “Evidence shows that it causes cancer in male laboratory rats exposed to high levels of Red No. 3,” he said.
Red color number 3 was approved for use in foods in the United States in 1907 and is formulated based on petroleum.
The first study to point to a relationship between the dye and cancer was in the 1980s, finding that high doses of the dye promoted tumors in rats. The agency then banned the use of the color additive for cosmetic products in 1990.
Doing so for food as well “helps remove an unnecessary danger from the American food supply and we celebrate it happening even when we believe it should have happened decades ago,” said Peter Lurie, president of the group Center for Science in the Public Interest, regarding the decision of the FDA.
Red No. 3 dye is already banned or severely restricted for use elsewhere, including Australia, Japan and European Union countries.