FDA signals intent to phase out synthetic dyes from food supply

The most important thing to know about food dyes is that their only purpose is to make food companies money. They are purely cosmetic, serving no nutritional function. In other words, food dyes help make ultra-processed foods more attractive, especially to children, often by masking the absence of a colorful ingredient, like fruit. 

The second thing people should know, especially parents and other caregivers, is that these synthetic dyes are known to trigger or exacerbate behavioral problems in some children. The harm dyes cause isn’t hypothetical—it’s real. That’s why CSPI has been fighting for the removal of synthetic dyes—particularly from school foods and foods marketed to kids—for years.

We don’t need synthetic dyes in the food supply, and no one will be harmed by their absence. We will soon see how the government plans to proceed, but I expect that, after discovering that they could survive in the European market without some of these dyes, the industry will choose not to die on this hill and risk offending a vindictive president.

Separately, the FDA now must make good on its commitment to close the GRAS loophole that lets food companies determine for themselves which additives are safe to use in food. And it must continue its efforts to fix the broken post-market system that allowed these food dyes to linger in our food supply long after we knew they were unsafe. But thanks to the brutal staff cuts to FDA imposed by Secretary Kennedy and Elon Musk’s DOGE, it will be harder now for FDA to police other food additives, inspect factories, or perform just about any function than it was four months ago.