Food safety advocates were happy to hear that U.S. officials are banning Red No. 3. They don’t think there will be any problems in quickly taking the artificial dye off of grocery store shelves in the U.S.
A lot of foods, drinks, and sweets get their cherry-red color from Red No. 3. The Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday that the additive would no longer be allowed to be used starting in 2027. This comes after decades of worries about its safety.
People who asked for Red No. 3 to be banned said there was no reason it couldn’t be taken out of goods sooner. It has been illegal for a long time in the European Union and some other countries. This means that many companies that sell food and drinks in other countries already have recipes they can easily use for American customers.
Another thing is that California was the first state to ban Red No. 3 from goods sold there in 2023. That ban, which was also set to start in 2027, was thought to have an impact on makers across the country, as they wouldn’t change their recipes just for Californians.
“Companies have been on high alert over this,” said Dr. Peter Lurie, president and executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. The Center for Science in the Public Interest is a customer advocacy group that asked the FDA to stop using Red No. 3 in 2022. “They’ve had a lot of time to think about this issue and come up with options.”
The Environmental Working Group, a health research and advocacy group that joined the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s petition, says that Red No. 3 is in around 3,000 products sold in the US. These include store-bought baked goods, seasonal candies, strawberry meal replacement shakes, and more.
Red No. 3 is made from petroleum and was first allowed to be used in food more than a hundred years ago. It was banned from cosmetics in 1990 after a study showed that high amounts of the dye gave rats cancer. Food still had it in it, though, even after the E.U. banned it in 1994 (except in cocktail cherries) and more proof showed that it caused cancer in animals.
Democratic Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel introduced the bill that banned Red No. 3 in California. He said that goods won’t be taken off store shelves in the U.S. because the colorant is illegal. He said that only small changes would need to be made to the recipes and that many of these changes are already being made in other countries.
“There are many natural alternatives that are easy to get.” “The business people know this,” he said. “In other countries, they’re making the same products we love here in the U.S. but without the harmful dyes.”
Alternatives to synthetic red food dyes include pomegranate and beet juice. These are natural options that companies have avoided because they think they are more expensive, according to Vineet Dubey, a consumer protection and environmental lawyer from the Los Angeles law firm Custodio & Dubey LLP.
“It costs less to use these man-made dyes.” “That’s why these businesses use them,” he said. “They will use the cheapest material if they are allowed to do so to make money.”
Gabriel, on the other hand, said that a study for his bill showed that this wasn’t true.
He said, “As we put this bill forward and worked it through the Legislature, we showed that most of the time, the safer ingredients are cheaper.” “We do not think that the prices of any foods will go up.”
A company that makes food said they would follow the FDA’s order to not use Red No. 3. Ferrara, which makes Brach candy corn that has Red No. 3, said that it started getting rid of the dye in early 2023 and that less than 10% of its goods now have it.
“We are on track to get rid of the food coloring from all of our products by the end of 2026,” Ferrara wrote in an email. “All of our products are safe to eat because they are made with only FDA-approved ingredients.”
Peeps are an Easter marshmallow candy made by Just Born. The company said it stopped using Red No. 3 after last Easter.
“Just Born has always changed to keep up with new trends and customer needs.” “We have taken Red #3 out of all PEEPS products,” the company told NBC News in an email on Wednesday.
A trade group called the Consumer Brands Association said that food safety is the most important thing for businesses. In a statement, Sarah Gallo, senior vice president of product policy and federal affairs for the group, said that “food and beverage companies will continue to follow the latest science and comply with all food safety regulations to ensure safe and available choices for consumers.”
In a statement, the International Association of Color Manufacturers, which speaks for the color additives industry, said that Red No. 3 was safe to eat and drink, saying that the ban was based on proof that it caused cancer in animals, not people. Still, the FDA says it can’t approve food additives that have been shown to make people or animals get cancer.
The FDA is not banning Red 40 or any other artificial colors that have been linked to different health problems, like hyperactivity and behavior problems in kids. Lurie said it’s possible that some makers just switched Red No. 3 for Red 40.
Melanie Benesh, vice president for government relations at the Environmental Working Group, said that getting rid of Red No. 3 is a “big win” for consumers.
She said, “This shouldn’t be hard for businesses to do.”
She also said, “Many of the same multinational food companies that make products in the U.S. sell in Europe. They have found ways to get around the ban in Europe and still sell brightly colored red foods that are popular there, and they’ve done it without Red 3.”
Leave a Comment