Recently, there has been a lot of talk about food dyes on the news. I am not a health professional, but I would love to provide basic information about food dyes, specifically Red 40 and its misconceptions. The coloring of food has been around for a long time. A few of those dyes are Red 40, Red 3, Blue 1 & 2, Green 3, and Yellow 5 & 6. The most famous food dye at the moment is Red 3 due to the recent FDA ban. The FDA states “Red 3 is a synthetic food dye that gives certain foods and drinks a bright, cherry-red color, and is found in certain candy, cakes and cupcakes, cookies, frozen desserts, and frostings and icings, and ingested drugs.” The ban will be in full effect by January 2028. To put the ban in perspective, Europe has had Red 3 banned in foods since 1994 and California since 2023. It’s also banned in New Zealand and Australia.
Why is red coloring so bad?
There are many studies done on rats which have shown an increased risk of cancers, bowel inflammation, thyroid dysfunction, hormonal imbalances, and behavioral changes. If you’d like to learn more, I recommend websites such as the National Institute of Health (NIH) or PubMed. These websites have strict criteria for studies to be published and are research-based. My family went red dye free in 2022 due to behavioral issues in my son. When consuming red dye, he becomes very emotional and physically unable to sit still. My son is allowed to indulge at birthday parties or holidays, but we are trying to be safer at home. Cutting out food dyes hasn’t been easy because companies are sneaky. The best piece of advice I have is to learn how to read food labels.
Here are some tips to help you start the process to a cleaner pantry:
- Dyes are like medications — they often go by two names: Blue 1/ Brilliant Blue FCF, Blue 2/Indigotine, Green 3/Fast Green FCF, Red 3/Erythrosine, Red 40/Allura Red, Yellow 5/Tartrazine, Yellow 6/Sunset Yellow. Labels don’t always list Red 40, but may have Allura Red instead.
- The easiest way to start this process is to cut out richly-colored drinks, snack foods, and candies. If it looks fake, it probably is. Most candies such as Skittles, M&Ms, Starbursts, Suckers, etc., are riddled with dyes. Red 40 is found in snacks like Poptarts and Doritos. Drinks with Red 40 are Gatorades, Hi-C, strawberry milk, Brisk Iced Tea, and Cherry Coke.
- It gets harder though. Don’t just assume a product has red dye by its color. There are several red colored foods that are made with juices such as beets. Special K Strawberry Pastry Crisps are red, but are made with vegetable juices. Duncan Hines Cream Cheese Frosting is white right? It still has Red 40 listed as an ingredient.
- Here is where it gets even trickier: Pink curing salt is dyed with Red 40 and is used to slow spoilage in meats. Most meats I have found don’t list curing salts on their ingredients therefore you won’t actually know if your bacon or sausage has Red 40 in it. My son had a reaction to pizza once which is how we discovered the curing salt information. Pepperoni is often cured with pink curing salts.
- Kids’ liquid medications are also colored with Red 40. The easiest way to avoid these is to buy the clear, dye-free version. Normally, every brand has its own version. It is still flavored, but is clear instead of pink, red, orange, or purple.
- Another piece of advice I have is to learn the color wheel. My high school art teacher Mrs. Lynch should be proud! The color wheel has three primary colors: red, blue, and yellow. When you mix red and blue you get purple; yellow and red makes orange; blue and yellow make green. Safe colors typically not mixed with red are green, blue, and yellow. Not safe colors are red, orange, pink, and purple. If you are eating or drinking something orange, purple, or pink, it will likely be colored with red.
Choosing a dye-free lifestyle isn’t easy or cheap, but for our son, who has hyperactivity associated with dyes, it has been worth it. I can always tell when he’s had a snack with dye at school. I encourage you to do your research before believing things you read on the internet. There is a lot of misinformation and educating yourself is the first step in being aware of what is in your food.
