FDA Bans Red Dye No. 3: Understanding the Risks and What's Next

The FDA has recently announced a ban on Red Dye No. 3 in food and ingested drugs due to concerns about its safety, based on studies showing it caused cancer in male laboratory rats. This episode of Your Checkup will explore what this means for you, the consumer, including which products commonly contain Red Dye No. 3, why it's being banned, and what to look for on food labels in the meantime. We'll delve into the details of how the FDA regulates color additives and clarify any confusion about the safety of other color additives in your food. Join us as we navigate the world of food additives and empower you to make informed choices about your health and diet.

Takeaways

The Patient Education Podcast aims to bring medicine closer to patients.
Red dye number three is a synthetic food dye used in many products.
The FDA is banning red dye number three due to cancer concerns in lab rats.
Misinformation spreads rapidly online, especially regarding health topics.
Consumers should be proactive about reading ingredient labels.
The ban on red dye number three will take effect in the coming years.
There is no evidence that red dye number three causes cancer in humans.
Processed foods often contain additives that may not be healthy.
It's important to fact-check health information found online.
Engaging in discussions about food safety can help clarify misconceptions.


Keywords

red dye number three, erythrosine, FDA ban, food safety, misinformation, health education, processed foods, consumer awareness, food additives, health podcast

Transcript

Nicole Aruffo, RN (00:05)
Hi, welcome to your checkup. We are the Patient Education Podcast, where we bring conversations from the doctor's office to your ears. On this podcast, we try to bring medicine closer to its patients. I'm Ed Delesky a family medicine resident in the Philadelphia area.

Ed Delesky, MD (00:20)
and I'm Nicole Aruffo, I'm a nurse.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (00:22)
And we are so excited you were able to join us here again today. We have a current events type episode here today, but before we dive in, we went to dinner. What would an episode be if we didn't talk about what we ate at dinner and we went to park for your birthday and how was that?

Ed Delesky, MD (00:39)
was so good. That was delicious. I have, that's all I have to say.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (00:45)
Yeah,

it was great. found I I feel very lucky. I don't know that I think it was like a long day at work. You see a lot of people who are like unwell and aren't doing so great. And in that kind of a moment, you just feel really grateful that you can do something like that. And it was a delicious meal. We I mean, rattle it off real quick. A salmon tartar with really fancy mac and cheese. The drinks were delicious. It was like I had like a whiskey. It was basically like an old fashioned.

Ed Delesky, MD (01:09)
of a tartar.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (01:14)
You I don't know what I would describe that drink.

Ed Delesky, MD (01:17)
yeah, some sort of like rosemary infused vodka and like elderflower. Concoction. It's delicious.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (01:24)
New Year's Eve, we made the Rosemary based.

Ed Delesky, MD (01:27)
yeah, we did.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (01:29)
So there was that. The French fries, they call it pommes frites. Please send us some fan mail if I obliterated that name.

Ed Delesky, MD (01:37)
We always get a fry. We're at like a fancy French restaurant. like, do you guys have fries? And can we get them?

Nicole Aruffo, RN (01:46)
And then the guy who was serving us was great. And then we got the fancy mac and cheese. And then for the entree, not French at all, but it was a truffle tagliatelle, which was creamy and thin and light, delicious. And the I mean, I can't even pronounce Bourgie. Do you remember the name of it? We couldn't even do it when guy said it. It was a braised short rib is what it was. And it crumbled and fell apart.

off the fork, you could get it, but like it was so good, felt so grateful, beautiful view of Rittenhouse right there. Love that place. and we sat down and you were like, what did you say to me?

Ed Delesky, MD (02:30)
so Eddie and I's birthdays are like a week apart and we sat down. So Eddie didn't tell me where we were going for my birthday. So I didn't have anything to go off of. Our birthdays are like a week apart. So I made a dinner reservation for his birthday next week and it was at the same restaurant. All the

Nicole Aruffo, RN (02:50)
Of

all the places, which I thought was really cute and I couldn't get beyond.

Ed Delesky, MD (02:56)
Yeah, so then they had to find a backup plan.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (02:59)
curious to find out where. Excellent. So why don't we get started because we got some plans for ourselves tonight. We might as well get to the.

Ed Delesky, MD (03:01)
I did find one.

You know, we never talked about, I guess like timing wise of when we recorded, we never talked about how we to dinner with our loyal listener.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (03:19)
no, we hadn't. We didn't.

Ed Delesky, MD (03:22)
But I guess we can just recap that we went to Barbuzzo and it was delicious and we had a great night.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (03:28)
That pizza was delicious in particular. That was like the most melty piping hot cheese that you could possibly get. An excellent company. Always a great time.

Ed Delesky, MD (03:42)
Yeah.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (03:43)
We like barbougeau. So we think that, well, actually, you picked this episode because of how topical this is in the zeitgeist, kind of similar to our last three episodes. But, Nikki, what are we going to talk about today?

Ed Delesky, MD (03:58)
Today we're talking about the red dye number three ban and facts about it. And just so that you are well informed because we have a big episode coming up about misinformation and such online. And it seems like everyone on the internet has a Google medical degree, but we are going to provide you some actual facts with

from someone with an actual medical degree.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (04:30)
And a lot of this stuff comes from the FDA and the CDC's website. I tried to look at the actual primary literature. It's like basic science rat stuff from the 80s is what they're referring to. And so some of that's a little more complicated to get into. But without further ado, why don't we get into the meat of our show here today?

Ed Delesky, MD (04:54)
They have the meats.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (04:56)
If we were sponsored by Arby's that'd be awesome. I'm not sure I've ever eaten there, but we have the meats.

Ed Delesky, MD (05:04)
my god. Tell us what red dye number three is.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (05:08)
So red dye number three, it also goes by the name erythrosine. It's a synthetic food dye used to give a bright cherry red color to food and drinks. It's found in a lot of common products. It's found in candies, cakes, cupcakes, cookies, frozen desserts, frostings, icings, and some ingested drugs, which recently I have seen. And so the FDA requires manufacturers of all of these things

to list FDNC red number three in the statement of ingredients on the food label. And so other countries may actually use this as by the name erythrozine. That is what red dye number three is.

Ed Delesky, MD (05:51)
So there's a whole movement behind food dyes, actually more specifically Red Dye 40. But you here we're on Red Dye 3. You listed a whole list of the common products that these dyes are in, know, these dyes, chemicals, whatever you want to call it, of cakes, candies, frozen desserts, icings. All of these things are like processed foods.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (06:22)
their core.

Ed Delesky, MD (06:23)
at their core. like, if you're ingesting these things that are processed, they're processed in a way to have a fake shelf life, to have better color, to be more desirable to the consumer. This is what you're getting. This isn't like an attack on the human race from the FDA. Like, sure, these things are not the greatest.

but you're still choosing to ingest them at the end of the day. Not to be like, you know, sipping the Kool-Aid and it's not good for you. But if you're eating more like whole foods, fruits, veggies, blah, blah, you're not gonna have that in there. Of course there are other things and they like spray the vegetables and blah, blah, but that's not what we're talking about today. So you know what I mean?

Nicole Aruffo, RN (07:10)
Right.

Right, right.

Ed Delesky, MD (07:21)
Does that make sense? Was that a little harsh?

Nicole Aruffo, RN (07:23)
I don't know. I don't think that was harsh. think if we're going to talk about processed foods and this deserves a whole episode, there's a whole study that I'd like to go over about.

Ed Delesky, MD (07:33)
Honestly, there are worse things in processed foods than food coloring, specifically this one that we'll talk more about. But like, you're not supposed to be able to bake a cake and then it sits on your shelf for weeks. You know, like if you make a cake in your house, it's not good after, I don't know, a week maybe, if I'm taking a shot in the dark. If you buy a prepackaged processed cake or like cupcake, whatever, it can sit in your...

pantry and you know for six months and never go bad.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (08:07)
That is something to think about. mean, even if we look as an homage to history, how food processes and management, I mean, there this was a whole industry, right? Industrial revolution all the way back to colonial times about how food was like food safety in general is looked at. And this is just a tiny, tiny little wrinkle in the whole thing about like this specific red dye number three issue that is in the giant ocean of food safety, food management.

for an entire population of people. No, I think those are excellent points. I you're great. Yeah. No. Do you have any other thoughts?

Ed Delesky, MD (08:46)
I don't think so.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (08:47)
Well, as they come up, please. Yeah. Give them.

Ed Delesky, MD (08:50)
Okay, so now that we went on that little tangent, why is this specific Red Dye 3 being banned?

Nicole Aruffo, RN (09:01)
So the FDA is actually revoking the authorization for the use of red dye number three in food and ingested drugs. And so where this came from is that there was this clause in the Federal Food and Drug Cosmetic Act, which is abbreviated in a lot of places that you might see FDNC. And the name of this clause is the Delaney Clause. Now, what the heck is this? The Delaney Clause actually

prohibited the FDA from authorizing a food or color additive if it has been found to induce cancer in humans or animals. And so this was the backing of a color additive petition that was put forth in 2022, which proposed that the ingredient red dye number three causes cancer in male lab rats. And of note, it was

It causes cancer in male lab rats due to a hormonal mechanism specific to male lab rats, which either way, we'll talk about what that means and our feelings on it. So what's good to recognize is that while studies did show that there was cancer in these male rats, there's no evidence that it causes cancer in humans. So knock on wood, thank goodness. And human exposure levels are typically much, much lower than what were used in those studies.

Ed Delesky, MD (10:22)
The studies were specifically very high doses. Specifically.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (10:27)
Exactly. And I looked these up today and it was a very they were very high doses. And so what the FDA is doing is they're amending their color additive regulation to no longer allow the use of FDNC red number three in food and ingested drugs. So these things take time. What does it actually mean? So manufacturers have until January 15th, 2027, your birthday for food products and January 18th, 2028.

for ingested drugs to reformulate their products. And so there are products that may be manufactured before the effective date of the ban and they still may be on there. So if you're someone who's really looking into this, you can look at the nutrition label and the ingredients and find this ingredient. And so overall, the FDA is responsible for regulating color additives used in foods, drugs, cosmetics, and certain medical devices. And so they make sure

to the best of their ability with the information they have at the time that they meet safety standards and are properly labeled. And so in this next part, we'll become much more conversational now that we're done delivering information and news and talk about our perspective on what this means for the consumer. And the first headline point that I want to put out there is to relax.

Ed Delesky, MD (11:46)
Yeah. And also to reiterate, if we didn't already say, none of these studies showed that the effects of red dye number three cause cancer in humans. It was male rats at very high doses.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (11:58)
Exactly.

with a specific male rat because you're seeing this a lot more. The first point here we have is to relax. You're probably fine because of those points you just made. What are you seeing that people are saying online that's kind of concerning?

Ed Delesky, MD (12:15)
God. Online. Makes me so aggravated. Well, it's a lot of I mean, OK, where we're getting this information is readily available to the general public on the FDA or the CDC websites. However, for some reason, I guess people take a little portion of something and they have

no knowledge of it or no knowledge to fact check, which we're to do a whole episode on. And then they run with it. So they hear red dye number three causes cancer. That's why it's being banned. And they run with it. And then they post about it on social media and they make all these tech talks about it. And like they, then someone else sees it and then they run with that. And then it kind of is this like game of telephone and nothing's correct. And

I mean, this happens with like everything and it's actually insane how quickly misinformation spreads on the internet.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (13:21)
Right, because it's more it's more salacious and interesting when you see the headline that red dye number three causes cancer.

Ed Delesky, MD (13:26)
Yeah,

I mean and like on like big even just like big Instagram accounts are like posting like making posts as like a headline red dye number three banned for causing cancer and yeah, I guess that statements like true but Causes cancer and high doses in male lab rats And then like one person's like reposting something and then someone's picking that like it just is crazy

Nicole Aruffo, RN (13:47)
Is that exactly

Right. I guess something I think... go ahead.

Ed Delesky, MD (14:00)
Sorry. it's just like, OK, yeah, like this, I don't know, this artificial dye is being banned from our food. Probably not the best thing to be ingesting. Sure. Great that it'll be like one less thing within the next couple of years that won't be there. Like they did the same thing with trans fats. What was that? Like 10, probably longer than 10 years ago now. Exactly. That's why like there are no trans fats on the food labels because they went through this whole process. So it's going to be the same thing in a couple of years with this.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (14:27)
Too much of anything is a bad thing. And this is not to say that like, you're going to go out there shoveling dye number three into your mouth and like, or taking it all. like too much sun gives cancer.

Ed Delesky, MD (14:41)
Yeah, you're more likely to get cancer from like, yeah, too much sun than red dye number three.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (14:51)
Or how about this? Obesity is a risk factor for cancer. So like these are all things. And like if you put those things on headlines, of course, they're going to grab attention just like this did. And so it's absolutely here in the news and why it's so important for us to hop on here and at least have a measured approach to approaching this.

Ed Delesky, MD (15:12)
And it's not like a knock to people who, you know, like don't want to eat these things or to parents who like don't want their kids to have dyes and, and if 40 is like a big one with kids and like how it affects them and stuff. And like, that's fair. You don't want to like eat artificial food coloring and dye and like, you don't want to feed that to your kid. That's a very fair thing to say, but like, I don't know. It just becomes a whole like fear mongering.

that doesn't need to be.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (15:43)
Yeah, my brother-in-law got dunked on by his sister-in-law for giving some processed food treat to the child. And he won't forget it. But yeah, he definitely got dunked on for that. And we respect that. Treat your family and your body however you'd like. But if you are one of these people who wants to be more active with this, keep an eye out. Keep an eye out for Red 3, Food Dye Number 3.

erythrazine on the ingredient list. And that's one way to be proactive.

Ed Delesky, MD (16:17)
So long story short, in a couple years it will not or should not be in food or medicine. There is zero evidence that has been shown that it shows or causes cancer in humans.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (16:34)
Yep.

Ed Delesky, MD (16:35)
If you have a pet rat, maybe don't feed them red dye number three anymore because they might get cancer.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (16:39)
Right. If anything, this is hot news for the male rats in the world. So watch out. If any of their food has-

Ed Delesky, MD (16:47)
Maybe

they could feed it to like the rats in New York and then they'll slowly just... Then there won't be a problem with rats.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (16:58)
This has actually become a sanitation throughput podcast, that sanitation management for New York.

Ed Delesky, MD (17:07)
Very neat. they going to start, this might have been with rats and it might have been with New York because I feel like the girlies on the toast were talking about it and they live in New York that they were going to start giving the rats like, somehow giving the rats like birth control to like control the population. Jesus Christ. I feel like it was with that. I also could be wrong. So don't quote me on that. Sure. Here I am spreading misinformation. You know, walking on my own podcast.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (17:35)
on your own podcast, walking the walk. And so as we wrap up here, we just wanted to give one more message and that we'd like you to stay informed and be proactive about your health and diet. And that includes all of the news that you get. But when it comes to news, read what you see and take a beat and then try to find yourself back to the middle. Because there's always two stories or there's multiple. three stories. There's the what's that saying? There's like

Ed Delesky, MD (18:02)
there's like her, his side, her side and the truth. And if you're seeing someone like go off on TikTok or Instagram or wherever about just saying things that aren't true, or maybe if you hear them say something, just fact check it online or listen to this episode again, maybe send them this episode so that they know. like, especially if it's someone who just doesn't have

Nicole Aruffo, RN (18:06)
And so

Ed Delesky, MD (18:31)
the knowledge or the credentials to tell you all of this fake stuff that isn't true.

because that's how these things get crazy. like, I don't know, like sometimes I'll come across these videos of people who are just like saying things that are like, they're so validated and what they're saying is true and it's just inaccurate. And then you go to their profile and you know, take a little deep dive and you know, it's this girl that lives in Oklahoma and she's an accountant and it's like, okay, nothing wrong with Oklahoma and being an accountant, but like you're out here acting like you, cause there are this with

there's a specific subset of people who spread misinformation who are against physicians and whatever. And they act like they know more than a doctor. And it just isn't true. You didn't go to medical school. You don't have all the training. And a doctor would never walk into your accounting office and tell you how to count numbers. It's just crazy.

That's my diatribe on that. I could sit here all night and talk about this.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (19:42)
You could. That's why we're going to give you an unlimited amount of time on that episode to do that. There's, yeah, you know, some of them, like the wisest people I know. I mean, you'll notice that like, and at least I've picked up. And if you listen to enough people in medicine talk, they all speak in probability because you, there's no way to know anything for certain, maybe except for surgeons who. Yeah.

Ed Delesky, MD (20:09)
Like things are always changing.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (20:11)
And like that, that's a huge piece. Like we'll have to include that. that like the, only are good as the information you have available at the time. And so you have to approach each moment with like a step of like hesitancy and respect that like you're in the unknown. And this is like, this goes down to whole like philosophy of science that like we're just trying to describe the natural world with numbers and data.

as these things have like happen around us trying to calculate it and make it predictable when it is exactly unpredictable. Thank you for coming back to another week of your checkup. Hopefully you were able to learn something for yourself, a loved one or.

Ed Delesky, MD (20:53)
A neighbor who is wildly afraid of red dye number three.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (20:59)
Please come back or listen to some of our old episodes or share them with a loved one or a neighbor. And please come back next week or the next time we publish an episode. Check out our website, our Instagram. Send us some fan mail. We literally read those and I look over them all the time.

Ed Delesky, MD (21:15)
Did we get any from our loyal listeners?

Nicole Aruffo, RN (21:17)
week? Not this week. He seemed to be busy and more active on TikTok. Yeah, he has redirected his focus over to TikTok. And please come back next week. But until next time, stay healthy, my friends. I'm Ed Toleski. Thank you and goodbye. Bye.

Ed Delesky, MD (21:30)
I'm Nicole Aruffo

Nicole Aruffo, RN (21:39)
This information may provide a brief overview of diagnosis, treatment, and medications. It's not exhaustive and is a tool to help you understand potential options about your health. It doesn't cover all details about conditions, treatments, or medications for a specific person.

This is not medical advice or an attempt to substitute medical advice. You should contact a healthcare provider for personalized guidance based on your unique circumstances. We explicitly disclaim any liability relating to the information given or its use. This content doesn't endorse any treatments or medications for a specific patient. Always talk to your healthcare provider for a complete information tailored to you. In short, I'm not your doctor and make sure you go get your own checkup with your own personal doctor.

Ed Delesky, MD (22:16)
I am not your nurse.