WASHINGTON, United States (AFP)— Outgoing US President Joe Biden’s administration on Wednesday announced a ban on Red Dye No 3, a controversial food and drug colouring long known to cause cancer in animals.

Decades after scientific evidence first raised alarm, Red 3, as it is also called, is currently used in nearly 3,000 food products in the United States, according to the nonprofit Environmental Working Group.

“FDA is revoking the authorised uses in food and ingested drugs of FD&C Red No 3 in the colour additive regulations,” said a document from the Department of Health and Human Services, published in the Federal Register on Wednesday.

The decision follows a petition filed in November 2022 by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and other advocacy groups, which cited the “Delaney Clause” — a provision mandating the prohibition of any colour additive shown to cause cancer in humans or animals.

Notably, the FDA determined as early as 1990 that Red 3 should be banned in cosmetics because of its link to thyroid cancer in lab rats.

However, the additive continued to be used in foods, largely due to resistance from the food industry. Manufacturers of maraschino cherries, for example, relied on Red 3 to maintain the iconic red hue of their products.

It’s also present in thousands of candies, snacks and fruit products.

The United States is one of the last major economies to take action on the dye. The European Union prohibited its use in 1994, with similar bans implemented in Japan, China, the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

CSPI hailed the decision as overdue and expressed hope it would lead to further action against other potentially harmful chemicals in food.

“They don’t add any nutritional value, they don’t preserve the food — they’re just there to make food look pretty,” Thomas Galligan, a scientist with CSPI, told AFP.

“There’s growing discussion across the political spectrum about food additives and chemicals, which reflects ongoing failures by the FDA.”