The FDA says that food companies will have until Jan. 15, 2027 to stop using the dye. Drugmakers will have an extra year, until January 2028, to comply with the change. Which food

T he U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned the use of Red Dye No. 3 in food and ingested drugs on Wednesday, more than three decades after the agency prohibited it from being used in cosmetics because of possible cancer risks.

The U.S. on Wednesday banned the use of a synthetic food dye that gives some candies, cakes and certain oral medications a cherry-red color, following evidence that the dye causes cancer in laboratory rats.