Madeline Halpert
BBC News, New York
The US will ban eight commonly used artificial food dyes in a bid to help Americans “know what’s in their food”, Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr announced on Tuesday.
Officials said two petroleum-based synthetic dyes would be phased out in the coming weeks, and others by the end of 2026.
Experts have linked the dyes – which are found in dozens of foods, including cereals, candy, snacks and beverages – to neurological problems in some children.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plans to authorise four new natural color additives in the coming weeks to help companies find alternatives quickly, the agency said.
“Americans don’t know what they’re eating,” Kennedy said at a news conference.
On the campaign trail alongside Donald Trump, Kennedy last year vowed to take on artificial food dyes as well as ultra-processed foods once confirmed to lead the top US health agency.
On Tuesday, the health secretary pledged to tackle other food additives, including “every ingredient, additive, to food in school that we can legally address”.
Most artificially coloured foods are made with synthetic petroleum-based chemicals, according to nutrition nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).
Synthetic food dyes are found in dozens of popular foods including M&M’s, Gatorade, Kool-Aid and Skittles.
“For the last 50 years, American children have been increasingly living in a toxic soup of synthetic chemicals,” FDA commissioner Marty Makary said.
Makary said removing the food dyes was not a “silver bullet” but “one important step” to improving children’s health.
The FDA plans to revoke authorisation for food dyes Red No 2 and Orange B “within the coming months”, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Six remaining synthetic dyes – FD&C Green No 3; FD&C Red No 40; FD&C Yellow No 5; FD&C Yellow No 6; FD&C Blue No 1; and FD&C Blue No 2 – will be removed from the food supply by the end of next year, HHS said.
The only purpose of artificial food dyes is to “make food companies money”, said Dr Peter Lurie, a former FDA official and the president of CSPI.
“Food dyes help make ultra-processed foods more attractive, especially to children, often by masking the absence of a colorful ingredient, like fruit,” he said. “We don’t need synthetic dyes in the food supply, and no one will be harmed by their absence.”
Companies have found ways to eliminate many of the dyes in other countries, including Britain and New Zealand, said former New York University nutrition professor Marion Nestle.
For example, in Canada, Kellogg uses natural food dyes like carrot and watermelon juice to colour Froot Loops cereal, despite using artificial dyes in the US.
How harmful the synthetic dyes are is debatable, said Ms Nestle.
“They clearly cause behavioural problems for some – but by no means all – children, and are associated with cancer and other diseases in animal studies,” she said.
“Enough questions have been raised about their safety to justify getting rid of them, especially because it’s no big deal to do so,” she added. “Plenty of non-petroleum alternative dyes exist and are in use.”
In 2008, British health ministers agreed to phase out six artificial food colourings by 2009, while the European Union bans some colourings and requires warning labels on others.
In recent months, Kennedy’s food-dye ban has found momentum in several state legislatures. West Virginia banned synthetic dyes and preservatives in food last month, while similar bills have been introduced in other states.
