The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on January 15, 2025 that it was revoking the authorisation to use FD&C red no 3 in food products, including confectionery. Previously, manufacturers would use red dye no 3, otherwise known as erythrosine, to give confectionery products such as sweets and toppings like frosting and icing their bright, cherry-red colour.
FDA’s decision will come into effect on January 15, 2027 for food products. Ahead of this date, confectionery producers will need to revisit and reformulate their finished products to remove red no 3 from their sweet treats.
But given production timescales, experts are recommending confectionery brands start to update their formulations sooner in the two-year process to help them stay updated with market needs and gain a competitive advantage.
Red no 3 use in confectionery
Red no 3 is a common ingredient in confectionery. In each industry application, natural colour works differently and requires careful consideration and planning to match red no 3’s unique, bright pink-red shade.
Producers will need to consider several technical elements to ensure successful colour performance and find the best red no 3 substitute or fully convert products to natural colours. Depending on the colour source, factors such as heat, acidity, processing, ingredient interaction, and light exposure can all impact the stability of natural colour.
Three considerations when choosing natural ingredients
1. Matching synthetic colour exactly: “The specific boldness of the pinks created by Red No 3 in many applications can be difficult to replicate with other colour sources,” says Christi Boxx, technical service manager at sensient colors. For example, even synthetic colours like Red 40 lack the almost neon quality of Red No. 3 pink. “However, a bright shade match is often very important to brands seeking to make a swap, as a colour change can falsely indicate a quality or flavour change to a customer,” she adds.
2. Maintaining on-pack claims: Labelling is a hurdle when formulating and packaging products with alternative ingredients to Red No 3 dye. Producers may need colour ingredients that meet kosher labelling requirements to maintain an existing on-pack claim. Carmine and cochineal are very common colour ingredients, for example. “However, they do not meet the kosher standards set by these brands, so these highly stable options are not on the table,” says Boxx.
3. Ensuring stability: This is a challenge when replacing Red No 3. Depending on the application, different processing or packaging conditions, such as heat or light exposure, can influence the stability of colour ingredients. “Red No. 3 is sensitive to water and light in some cases, and similarly, some natural colours perform better in certain applications than others,” says Boxx.
For confectioners looking to replace red no 3 colouring in their formulations, producers need to consider how the ingredients function. Red no 3, which is highly concentrated like other synthetic dyes, is a xanthene dye with a vibrant, nearly neon pink shade.
Beet, anthocyanins, carmine, lycopene and red iron oxide are among the most common natural red no 3 alternatives. Similar to red no 3, each colour source has individual stability parameters for manufacturers to follow.
Red no 3’s primary format is a water-soluble dye. Colour manufacturers can process the dye as fat or oil dispersible, allowing red no 3 to be used in coatings. For manufacturers who want to continue using synthetic colours, red 40 lake is the closest option to red no 3. “However, the effect is usually more of a salmon-type pink, depending on your red no 3 target shade and the usage rate of red 40 lake,” says Christi Boxx, technical service manager at Sensient Colors. From a shade standpoint, the best options are typically anthocyanins, beet and carmine to mimic the red no 3 dye.
Natural colours prove popular
Beyond the FDA’s new legislative ban on red no 3 in the US, broader factors have also seen brands explore swapping out synthetic colours for natural alternatives in their formulations in recent years.
Consumers are also worried about the specific ingredients in their food, prompting confectioners to look for natural options over synthetic inclusions. According to market intelligence company Mintel, natural colour has outpaced artificial colour in new product development over the past five years.
More than a third (34%) of US consumers believe that “free from artificial colouring” claims influence their food and drink purchasing decisions, Mintel states. In addition, more than three-quarters (76%) of US adults perceive natural ingredients, such as natural food colours, as providing shoppers with more functional benefits and being healthier than artificial ingredients.
How dye bans affect the global marketplace
With the conversion to natural colour accelerating in global food manufacturing, Sensient Colors emphasises the importance of updating formulations within the worldwide marketplace. While red no 3’s disappearance from the confectionery production space only pertains to the US marketplace, the reality is that this will extend beyond the local jurisdiction. With global confectioners utilising national retailers and distribution networks, ingredient portfolio changes will likely need to occur worldwide.
There is a limited natural colour supply in today’s global confectionery sector, with finite resources and full and comprehensive conversions taking time to complete. “It only takes one large company to take all the current supply of a natural product,” a spokesperson for Sensient Colors confirms.
“Right now, there is not enough natural supply to completely replace the synthetic colour in the market,” shares Boxx. According to Sensient, given current production, it could take six years to reach 100% of market demand for some natural colours and longer for others. Cost-in-use is also higher for natural colour, which will take time to improve with market recovery.
