As of Tuesday, The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a series of new measures to phase out all petroleum-based synthetic dyes from the nation’s food supply — a significant milestone in the administration, specifically Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s broader initiative, to Make America Healthy Again.
“For too long, some food producers have been feeding Americans petroleum-based chemicals without their knowledge or consent,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. in an interview.
Before President Joe Biden left office in January, the FDA announced it was revoking its authorization of red dye No. 3, which is used in some foods and medications and was one of nine FDA-approved synthetic dyes made from petroleum.
But what about all the others? According to NBC News, all color additives must be approved by the FDA before they are used in food sold in the U.S. There are 36 FDA-approved color additives, nine of which are synthetic dyes. The nine FDA-approved synthetic food dyes derived from petroleum are Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 3, Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Citrus Red, and Orange B.
Food manufacturers use petroleum dyes, also known as synthetic dyes, primarily to enhance the visual appeal and consistency of processed foods. These dyes are often used in ultra-processed foods to offset color loss due to various factors like light, air, temperature, moisture, and storage.
They also help correct natural color variations, enhance naturally occurring colors, and provide color to colorless or “fun” foods like cereal, candy, snacks, and beverages. According to RFK Jr., these poisonous compounds offer no nutritional benefit and pose real, measurable dangers to children’s health and development, including chronic disease and larger health concerns like obesity and even cancer in some cases.
Some synthetic food dyes and additives have been linked to negative health effects, particularly in children, including hyperactivity, behavioral problems, and potential links to cancer.
Following RFK Jr.’s lead, the FDA is taking the following actions:
- Establishing a national standard and timeline for the food industry to transition from petrochemical-based dyes to natural alternatives.
- Initiating the process to revoke authorization for two synthetic food colorings — Citrus Red No. 2 and Orange B — within the coming months.
- Working with industry to eliminate six remaining synthetic dyes — FD&C Green No. 3, FD&C Red No. 40, FD&C Yellow No. 5, FD&C Yellow No. 6, FD&C Blue No. 1, and FD&C Blue No. 2 — from the food supply by the end of 2026.
- Authorizing four new natural color additives in the coming weeks, while also accelerating the review and approval of others.
- Partnering with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to conduct comprehensive research on how food additives impact children’s health and development.
- Requesting food companies to remove FD&C Red No. 3 sooner than the 2027-2028 deadline previously required.
The FDA’s current budget represents a 7.4% increase over the FY 2023 funding level, sitting at $7.2 billion, with $3.5 billion coming from user fees for the Fiscal Year 2025. This budget includes funds for enhancing food safety, advancing medical product safety, and strengthening the agency’s public health capacity, as well as infrastructure modernization, according to the FDA’s budget summary fact sheet.
“Today, the FDA is asking food companies to substitute petrochemical dyes with natural ingredients for American children as they already do in Europe and Canada,” said FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, MD, MPH.
In Europe, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has the task of aligning and enforcing food regulations for all 27 member nations of the European Union, while the U.S. relies on a federal entity, the FDA. In turn, regulation approval in the U.S. becomes a longer, more complicated process since it is at the national versus the state level.
Some of the dyes allowed in food in the U.S. are required by the European Union to have a warning label on them. These include Yellow No. 5, also known as tartrazine, Yellow No. 6, called sunset yellow or E110, and Red No. 40, also called E129 or Allura Red AC. The required label warns that the additive “may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.”
The U.S. food industry spends almost $14 billion a year on advertising, the majority of which promotes fast food, sugary drinks, candy, and other unhealthy snacks, Elisabetta Politi, nutrition director of the Duke Diet and Fitness Center in Durham, North Carolina, told NBC News.
The industry, she said, likely spends millions more on lobbying Congress. “I think that is a striking comparison of how hard it is for consumers to make healthy choices when the food industry is so powerful,” Politi said.
With health concerns, especially obesity at an all-time high, it’s not only important that we focus on how much we are eating, but also what is in the foods we are eating too.