ON CONSUMERISM
By Arthur Vidro
When you get to be old, even current events comes across as a rerun.
The Food and Drug Administration last month officially banned Red Dye #3, an additive used for giving food and drinks a bright, cherry-red color.
Why the ban? Folks who advocated for the ban claimed the additive is linked to cancer and to behavioral problems in children.
Although the ban is now law, manufacturers and importers have until January 2027 to change the formula in the foods they produce or distribute or sell to the public. Drug manufacturers have until January 2028 to make the necessary changes. Yes, the dye is used to color pills and capsules, too.
Imported goods are included in the ban.
Red Dye #3, a color additive made from petroleum, is commonly used in candy, cakes and cupcakes, frozen desserts, frosting and icing.
Back in 1990, the dye was banned from use in cosmetics. Interesting logic. Too potentially dangerous to slather on your face, but safe enough to eat?
Oh, well. That’s bureaucracies for you.
I’m not here to judge the merits of the ban. Perhaps one would have to ingest a whole lot more of the dye than feasible to suffer dire consequences. But surely the dye isn’t healthy for anyone who consumes it. If it were, we’d be popping red dye supplements that would be sold over the counter.
As is often the case with health standards, California led the way. In 2023 it became the first state to ban the manufacture, sale, or distribution of four food additives, including Red Dye #3.
Since then, more states have followed. And now so has the federal government.
The dye is already largely banned in Australia, New Zealand and the European Union.
What will folks do without Red Dye #3? Many will munch instead on Red Dye #40. But eventually, I predict, Red Dye #40 will be banned, too. In September, California banned Red #40 from foods served to children in schools. That ban goes into effect at the end of 2027.
The European Union requires products containing Red Dye #40 to include a health warning label that it may impact children’s activity and attention.
Children find Red #40 often in their cold cereals, so-called fruit juices and ice creams. (As an aside, if the milk in your cereal changes color because of the cereal, then that’s not a healthy food.)
To most people, the new ban of Red Dye #3 is current events.
But it makes me feel old. My first reaction was: “Isn’t that old news?”
For when I was a teenager (long ago), we discussed in social studies class the then-new ban of Red Dye #2. At the time, the nation was abuzz with talk of red dyes in our foods. For a while, red M&Ms were taken off the market by their manufacturer.
Anytime I read about a red dye being banned from food, my reaction is: “I already read this. Back in the 1970s.”
That’s when Red Dye #2 was banned. And now Red Dye #3 is being banned. Soon enough, I predict, Red Dye #40, which today is what colors M&Ms red, will be banned, too.
Do you know what replaced the long-ago-banned Red Dye #2? Red Dye #40. But a replacement is not always superior to what it is replacing. (Remember “New Coke” when Coca-Cola “permanently” changed its formula, then changed its mind when sales plummeted?)
The newest ban, on Red #3, and the proposed ban on Red #40, doesn’t stir me one way or the other. It only makes me wonder whatever happened to Red Dyes #4 through #39.
