The US Food and Drug Administration is finally banning the food dye Red 3 from use in foods, beverages, oral drugs, and dietary supplements, addressing a decades-long regulatory failure. Red 3 has been banned from use in topical drugs and cosmetics since 1990, when the FDA itself determined that the dye causes cancer when eaten by animals. Because the FDA failed to uphold its legal obligation to fully ban cancer-causing additives, Red 3 remained permitted in foods, supplements, and oral drugs more than 34 years later. That changed on Jan. 16, 2025, thanks to a color additive petition filed by CSPI in 2022. Here's what to know about the harmful additive, including where you might find it, and why the FDA's long-delayed ban is a win for public health.

In 1990, the Food and Drug Administration banned Red 3 from use in cosmetics, like lipstick and skincare products, as well as topical drugs, like pain-relief ointments. That’s because the FDA learned in the 1980s that Red 3 is a carcinogen in rats. Federal law requires that the FDA prohibit the use of any cancer-causing color additives in foods, drugs, and cosmetics. In 1990, the agency banned Red 3 for topical uses, but the FDA decided (and promised) to take separate regulatory action to ban Red 3 from the food supply and other oral products.

More than three decades elapsed, and the FDA never took those critical next steps, failing to keep its promise and, more importantly, failing to protect consumers from this clearly unsafe additive. Red 3 can still be found in thousands of candies, snacks, and fruit products. 

In 2022, CSPI and 23 other organizations and prominent scientists petitioned the FDA to finally keep its promise and ban all remaining uses of Red 3. 

Acting on that petition today, more than two years later, the FDA has done just that. Today's ban gives manufacturers until Jan. 16, 2027, to remove Red 3 from their products.

Red 3 and cancer 

Animal studies completed in the 1980s revealed that Red 3 causes thyroid cancer in rats. When studies reveal that an additive causes cancer in humans or animals, the Delaney Clause—a provision of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act—obligates the FDA to deem it unsafe and prohibit it from use in food, drugs, and cosmetics.

FDA relied on the Delaney Clause to ban Red 3 from topical products in the US in 1990, and it did so again today in banning the dye from food products. 

CSPI's petition to ban Red 3

With the FDA’s inaction on Red 3 after 1990, CSPI, along with 23 other organizations and scientists, petitioned the FDA to eliminate the carcinogenic dye from the food and drug supply in October of 2022. 

In the two years since, California introduced, passed, and signed into law the California Food Safety Act, banning Red 3 and three other unsafe additives statewide, and other states subsequently introduced similar legislation—leaving the federal government to play catch-up.

Inaction on Red 3 is a symptom of bigger problems at the FDA

The FDA has an ongoing responsibility to protect consumers from cancer-causing food and color additives. The agency should not wait for petitions from CSPI or new state laws before it finally acts. While today’s ban is a step in the right direction, the FDA and Congress have a long way to go to reform the broken food chemical regulatory system. 

The agency has failed to effectively monitor the safety of chemicals after they come to market, which is why, after years of prompting by CSPI and our partners, the agency announced plans in 2024 to develop an enhanced framework for conducting post-market assessments of food chemical safety.

While the FDA works to develop that plan, consumers continue to be exposed to unsafe food chemicals, including not just dyes, but also the artificial sweetener aspartame, the white pigment titanium dioxide, the preservative propylparaben, and the food packaging chemicals phthalates.

“All Americans deserve foods free from harmful food additives,” said CSPI’s Principal Scientist for Additives and Supplements Thomas Galligan. “Removing Red 3 and other unsafe, unnecessary food chemicals from our food supply is a critical step for protecting consumers. We hope to see FDA and Congress act soon to reform the broken federal regulatory systems that have allowed unsafe chemicals to enter and stay in our food supply for so long.”

Trump’s nominee for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, RFK, Jr., made color additives a national issue during this year's elections and as he takes aim at the food system. The Trump Administration could take steps to protect consumers from each of these chemicals and support the FDA’s broader post-market assessment efforts. It could ensure that the FDA sets health-protective limits on heavy metals, like lead, arsenic, and cadmium, in foods consumed by children. It could work with Congress to close the loopholes that allow companies to self-certify that new chemicals are safe and start adding them to food without even notifying the FDA—let alone getting FDA approval.

Foods containing Red 3

As consumers await compliance with the FDA's ban on Red 3, products containing this carcinogenic additive will still be on shelves. Until Jan. 16, 2027, this is where you might find Red 3:

Seasonal candies. Many candies, particularly those available during Halloween and Valentine's Day, often contain Red 3. Common products include conversation hearts, cherry cordials, candy corn, PEZ, original Dubble Bubble gum, and some flavors of Ringpop.

Maraschino cherries. The cherry industry is the largest purveyor of Red 3-dyed products in the US and in Europe. Though some brands have switched to Red 40, check product ingredient lists, where Red 3 is required to be listed by name, to avoid Red 3. 

Fruit cocktails. Common brands of canned or packaged fruit medleys, like Dole, use cherries dyed with Red 3.

What you can do

“At long last, the FDA is ending the regulatory paradox of Red 3 being illegal for use in lipstick, but perfectly legal to feed to children in the form of candy,” said CSPI President Dr. Peter G. Lurie. “The primary purpose of food dyes is to make candy, drinks, and other processed foods more attractive. When the function is purely aesthetic, why accept any cancer risk?” 

CSPI’s advice, particularly to parents and caregivers of children, is to avoid not only Red 3, but all synthetic dyes, including Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Red 40, Blue 1, Blue 2, and Green 3. Check product ingredient lists, where Red 3 and all other color additives must be listed by name. Aside from the risk of cancer posed by Red 3, concerns have mounted about the adverse impacts of various dyes on children’s behavior. California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has confirmed that those dyes cause neurobehavioral problems in some children. 

Learn more: Synthetic food dyes: Health risks, history, and policy

To learn more about which food additives to avoid—from artificial sweeteners to preservatives to food dyes and more—visit Chemical Cuisine, CSPI’s database of food additive safety ratings, where we rate the safety of food additives from “Safe” to “Avoid.”