Are Artificial Food Dyes Safe to Eat?

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) who has vowed to address chronic illnesses by making changes to the country’s food supply, recently told food companies that one of the Trump Administration’s goals is to remove artificial dyes from food products.

The news comes just a few months after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned the use of one dye, Red Dye No. 3, in food and ingested drugs—a move that predated Kennedy’s new role. Consumer advocates and some health experts have expressed concerns over other types of dyes as well, and at least a dozen states are considering bills that would prohibit certain dyes.

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Artificial food dyes, which add colors to food and drink products, have generated much debate among researchers and experts over whether they’re healthy for people to consume. Here’s what to know about the issue.

Why was Red 3 banned by the FDA?

In 1990, the FDA prohibited Red 3 from being used in cosmetics and topical drugs, in light of research that found the dye caused cancer in male rats. Federal rules mandate that the agency ban food additives that have been found to cause cancer in animals or humans, so consumer and health advocates encouraged the FDA to ban Red 3 in foods as well. But it was only in January that the agency took that step.

In its announcement about the decision, the FDA clarified that the way Red 3 causes cancer in male rats “does not occur in humans,” adding that “studies in other animals and in humans did not show these effects.”

What common foods contain artificial food dyes?

Other artificial dyes—such as Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Blue 2, and Green 3—are permitted by the FDA to be used in foods, and can be found in common food products. Kennedy on Monday spoke to executives from companies including PepsiCo and Kraft Heinz, both of which sell products that contain artificial dyes. Heinz Sweet Relish, for example, contains Yellow 5 and Blue 1, and Kraft Creamy French Dressing contains Yellow 5 and 6. PepsiCo owns Doritos Nacho Cheese Flavored Tortilla Chips, which contains Yellow 5 and 6, as well as Red 40.

Are artificial food dyes considered healthy for human consumption?

There is research that suggests some artificial food dyes could be linked to behavioral problems in some children, but the FDA hasn’t established a “causal link” between the two (though the agency did recommend experts conduct further research into the issue).

Jerold Mande, a former FDA senior adviser and former deputy undersecretary for food safety at the Department of Agriculture, says he can’t definitively answer whether these dyes are safe for human consumption because we need more research into the impact that these dyes are having on human health. “There’s different degrees of evidence showing harm,” Mande says.

During confirmation hearings to head HHS, Kennedy said he would support expanding research into food additives at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the FDA. On Feb. 7, NIH announced that it would slash funding, prompting 22 states to file a lawsuit, saying the cuts would “devastate critical public health research at universities and research institutions in the United States.” A federal judge recently blocked the cuts.

Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and director of the Food Is Medicine Institute at Tufts University, criticizes the safety standards and processes for food additives in the U.S. “It shouldn’t be that we’re sure they cause harm before we remove them; it should be we’re sure they’re safe before we put them in food,” Mozaffarian says. 

He adds that artificial dyes have no nutritional value. “If a food needs a food dye, if it’s that unappetizing and that unnatural, maybe we shouldn’t be eating it all,” Mozaffarian says. “That’s probably the biggest question: why do we need food dyes at all? That highlights the fact that these are probably subpar foods, subpar ingredients, and we shouldn’t need to make foods look fake to eat them.”

Mozaffarian says research indicates that the biggest threat to Americans’ health in the food system is a lack of healthy foods, rather than the excess intake of harmful foods. He says the second biggest issue is the overall intake of ultra-processed foods, but food additives like dyes are not the main problem—other issues, such as the loss of food structure leading to rapid and unnatural digestion, which is what happens when a food gets overly processed, likely have a more significant impact on people’s health. As an example, he points to Froot Loops, which contains Red 40, Yellow 5 and 6, and Blue 1. “If we took the dye out, they’re still Froot Loops,” Mozaffarian says. “It’s a problem, but it’s not the biggest problem.”