How a certain cocktail delicacy postponed the FDA’s banning of Red. Dye No. 3 for 35 YEARS

Yesterday the Food and Drug Administration banned Red Dye No. 3 from all foods, beverages, and ingested drugs. Food companies have a strict deadline of January 2027 to remove the synthetic ingredient from all products, while drug companies have until 2028.

“Red No. 3 is an ingredient that has already been banned or restricted in basically all of the European Union, Australia, Japan, China, and New Zealand due to evidence that it could cause cancer,” says Sara Gonzales.

When did these bans in other countries take place?

The 1990s — nearly 35 years ago. At this time, there was already ample evidence that the ingredient had cancer-causing properties. Much of this evidence had actually been collected in the 1980s.

Naturally, Americans want to know why we’re three and half decades behind the curve.

Sara explains that In the 1990s when other countries were outlawing the use of Red Dye No. 3, the FDA actually banned it as well. But it only outlawed use of the dye in cosmetics, such as lipsticks, and non-oral medications, like topical pain-relief treatments.

Apparently, the FDA pledged to outlaw it from foods and internal drugs as well, but clearly that didn’t happen.

Why?

The answer lies in a certain cocktail delicacy.

“They got pressure from the maraschino cherry industry because they use the color to keep their cherries neon red, and so instead of protecting the American people and doing the right thing … the FDA, your government has allowed a known carcinogen in thousands of candies, baked goods, snacks, drinks, medicines that you and your children have been ingesting” for nearly 35 years, condemns Sara.

If that wasn’t already despicable, Sara points out that the Delaney Clause in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which was passed in 1958, prohibits the use of any food additives known to be carcinogenic in humans or animals.

So even though the FDA has been required to prohibit carcinogenic products for almost 70 years, it allowed Red Dye No. 3 to be used in food and drugs for three and a half decades to avoid angering the cherry companies.

“Your government is colluding with lobbyists rather than doing their job, [while] we are dying — literally dying,” Sara rails.

To hear more on the scandal, watch the episode above.

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