The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, under the Trump administration, announced in a media memo Monday that the federal government will begin phasing out petroleum-based synthetic food dyes from the nation’s food supply.
According to the memo, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary will be making a joint announcement on Tuesday with details regarding this “major step forward in the administration’s efforts to Make America Healthy Again.”
Before 2025, the FDA approved of the use of Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 3, Red 3, Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6 in the production of food, as well as the much rarer dyes, Citrus Red and Orange B, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
In January, the FDA made the decision to ban red dye No. 3 — commonly found in icing, sprinkles, and maraschino cherries — by 2027. Besides this federal ban, California and West Virginia became the first states recently to pass legislation limiting or prohibiting the usage of synthetic dyes in food.
In an April 8 interview with CBS News, Kennedy reiterated his intent to ban synthetic food dyes, saying that they’re “clearly associated with a variety of a grim inventory of diseases.”
Kennedy stated that he met with major food manufacturers shortly after he was appointed and allegedly received “no real pushback” on removing ingredients like food dyes from the American food system.
A 2021 scientific study in partnership with the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard that showed a correlation between intake of synthetic food dyes and neurobehavioral effects in children, linking the overconsumption of synthetic food dyes with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD..
This is a developing story and will be updated as more details become available.
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