The Trump administration is moving to ban artificial petroleum-based food dyes from the nation’s food supply, according to an announcement Monday from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Marty Makary will hold a joint press conference in Washington D.C. on Tuesday to announce plans to “phase out the use of petroleum-based synthetic dyes in the nation’s food supply,” according to the announcement.
The action is part of Kennedy’s larger Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda. Long opposed to what he views as toxic petroleum based artificial food dyes, Kennedy’s rhetoric and political capital have inspired lawmakers across the country to take action against artificial dyes.
The Trump administration plans to take action to remove petroleum-based artificial food dyes from the nation’s food supply.
RFK Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary will share more about the plans tomorrow.https://t.co/iV71eogCkD
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) April 21, 2025
West Virginia became the first state to ban a group of synthetic dyes, including Red 3, Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Blue 2 and Green 3, when Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed HB 2354 into law in March. Inspired by Kennedy and the MAHA movement, Morrisey invited the secretary to West Virginia to see him sign the bill.
28 states have current legislation that seeks to either ban or regulate some form of synthetic food dye, according to a tracker built by the Environmental Working Group. Many state legislators have directly invoked Kennedy or MAHA in touting their proposed reforms. (RELATED: RFK’s Make America Healthy Again Movement Having Impact At The State Level)
Consumption of synthetic food dyes has been linked to brain development issues in children and increased risk for cancer. In a review of studies on humans, California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment found that that synthetic food dyes are “associated with adverse neurobehavioral outcomes in children,” according to a 2021 press release. The agency noted that the impact varied depending on the child.
Red 3, which former President Joe Biden’s FDA banned in January, was found to promote growth of tumors when consumed by rats. That mechanism, however, “does not occur in humans,” according to the FDA.
The patchwork of regulation enacted at the state level is considered by critics to be a consequence of federal policy. “Time and again the FDA has failed to act when it comes to regulating potentially harmful food ingredients. In the absence of federal action, states have stepped up to protect their consumers from harmful food chemicals,” the Environmental Working Group wrote.
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