Fact Check: RFK Jr.'s effort to phase out artificial food dyes is not an outright ban — nor effective immediately

Yahoo

24-04-2025

Claim:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on April 22, 2025, he will ban artificial dyes from all American food products, effective immediately.
Rating:
What's True:
Kennedy did announce a planned phase-out of all synthetic, petroleum-based food dyes during a news conference on April 22, 2025. Also, the Food and Drug Administration announced it would revoke authorization for two specific, rarely used dyes. However …
What's False:
Officials merely asked food companies to voluntarily stop using the six more common synthetic food dyes, stopping short of an outright ban. Furthermore, officials hope to eliminate those dyes from America's food supply by the end of 2026, not immediately.
On April 22, 2025, social media users began claiming that U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a ban on artificial food dyes, effective immediately.
The rumor spread widely on platforms like X, Facebook and Threads.
For example, an X post dated April 22 with nearly 100,000 likes claimed: "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has officially announced that, effective as of 4 PM EST today, artificial dyes will be banned from all food products." A community note underneath the post alleged that "the ban is not effective immediately."
But neither the X post nor the community note was entirely accurate. Kennedy did, indeed, hold a news conference alongside Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary announcing the U.S. government's intention to phase out the use of all petroleum-based synthetic dyes in American food products.
However, officials announced an outright ban only on two rarely used dyes; they will rely on voluntary cooperation from the food industry to end use of the remaining six and to accelerate a deadline set by the previous administration eliminating a dye known as Red No. 3. Furthermore, officials expressed the hope American food products will be free of synthetic dyes by the end of 2026, not immediately following the news conference. Thus, we rate this claim a mixture of truth and falsehood.
The FDA, which HHS oversees, did not directly answer an inquiry from Snopes about whether the it intends to consider enforcement mechanisms for its stated timeline or an outright ban on artificial dyes. Instead, an unidentified HHS official said via email: "As Secretary Kennedy and Commissioner Makary stated during yesterday's press conference, the food companies HHS met with recognize the harmful effects of synthetic food dyes on children. These companies are eager to engage in discussions about phasing out these dyes to promote a healthier America."
The research on the safety of these dyes is mixed, although growing evidence indicates an association between artificial dyes and behavioral and cognitive issues. An April 2021 review of research on the subject by the California Environmental Protection Agency found that the evidence suggests "synthetic food dyes are associated with adverse neurobehavioral outcomes in children, and that children vary in their sensitivity."
But the FDA also reviews scientific literature as part of its efforts to regulate the dyes, and according to an agency Q&A webpage, "the totality of scientific evidence indicates that most children have no adverse effects when consuming foods containing color additives."
Here is how Makary outlined the FDA's plans regarding food coloring during his April 22 news conference with Kennedy (at 7:16, emphasis ours):
Today, the FDA is taking the following steps.
No. 1: establishing a national standard and timeline for the food industry to transition from petroleum-based food dyes to natural alternatives.
No. 2: initiating a process to revoke authorization of synthetic food colorings, including those not in production, namely Citrus Red No. 2 and Orange B, within the coming weeks.
No. 3: taking steps to eliminate the remaining six synthetic dyes on the market from the U.S. food supply, specifically Red Dye No. 40, Yellow Dye No. 5, Yellow Dye No. 6, Blue Dye No. 1, Blue Dye No. 2 and Green Dye No. 3 by the end of next year.
We are also requesting food companies to remove Red Dye No. 3 sooner than the 2027-2028 deadline previously announced.
A full video of the news conference is available here.
As Makary states, the FDA will only end authorization — and thus permissible use for — two of the dyes: Citrus Red No. 2 and Orange B. Both are rarely used by the food industry. Neither the FDA nor HHS set an immediate or specific deadline for banning these dyes; while Makary, as shown above, said the FDA will revoke authorization for the two dyes in "the coming weeks," HHS wrote in an April 22 news release that the ban will happen "in the coming months."
As far as the other six more commonly used dyes are concerned, the "steps" taken appear to be simply asking the food industry not to use the other dyes by a requested timeline of "the end of next year," or 2026. Thus, the FDA's announcement does not mean a ban on all artificial food coloring, nor does it mean an immediate ban on any synthetic food dyes.
Former President Joe Biden's administration revoked authorization for Red No. 3 in food and ingested drugs on Jan. 15, 2025, with a deadline set for Jan. 15, 2027 for food and Jan. 18, 2028 for drugs. While Makary said the agency requested that food and drug industries move that deadline up, HHS did not set a specific earlier deadline in the news conference or in its accompanying news release.
According to Kennedy, the U.S. government requested that the food industry phase out use of artificial dyes and the industry agreed — which, by definition, is not a ban because officials are not prohibiting the industry from doing anything, at least not as of this writing. See this exchange between Kennedy and Food Fix reporter Helena Bottemiller Evich during the news conference at 44:09 (emphasis ours):
EVICH: You mentioned that the goal is to work with the food industry to get most of the major synthetic food dyes out. What is the plan if the food industry does not voluntarily agree to do that, and what are the next steps if you can't get agreement within the industry?
KENNEDY: Well, here the industry has voluntarily agreed. … I think as we move forward, we are going to work with the industry. They've shown a lot of leadership on this right now. In fact, we're getting food companies now, and fast-food companies who are calling us almost every day, and asking us, "How do we do this, what do you want us to do, will you do a press conference with us?" and so we're really happy with the reception — and I think they're ready to change the industry; they have children too.
Furthermore, officials acknowledged that this effort does not involve any regulatory or legislative changes during an exchange with New York Times reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg (at 52:59, emphasis ours):
STOLBERG: I just want to make sure we understand the parameters of this agreement with the food companies. Do you actually have a settlement with the food companies and a formal agreement for them to adhere to these guidelines, and if so, why don't we have anyone from the food industry here?
KENNEDY: I would say we don't have an agreement, we have an understanding, but I'm gonna let Marty take this question.
MAKARY: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. You win more bees with honey than fire. Good to see you, Sheryl. So, there are a number of tools at our disposal. And so, I believe in love, and let's start in a friendly way, and see if we can do this without any statutory or regulatory changes, but we are exploring every tool in the toolbox to make sure this gets done very quickly. And they want to do it. They want to do it. So why go down a complicated road with Congress when they want to do this?
It is worth noting that no major food industry group has appeared to publicly concede to the 2026 deadline in full. Many wrote noncommittal statements that called artificial dyes "safe"; meanwhile, the International Dairy Foods Association announced a voluntary pledge to end use of artificial colors in products specifically sold through federal K-12 school meal programs by July 2026. The association's pledge covers "more than 50 dairy and food companies," which represents "nearly all of the dairy foods sold to schools in the U.S."
Confusion about whether Kennedy announced a prohibition on artificial food dyes is understandable, given that many reputable news outlets, such as the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times, wrote in their headlines that Kennedy announced a "ban" on food dyes — in contrast to other outlets, such as CBS News, which wrote, "FDA stops short of synthetic food dye ban, calls on industry to stop use."
But the headlines don't tell the full story; The New York Times, for example, wrote in its story that Kennedy "asserted he has 'an understanding' with major food manufacturers to remove petroleum-based food colorings from their products by 2026" and then noted that "none have publicly agreed" to Kennedy's demands. (One of the reporters on the New York Times story was Stolberg, the reporter who clarified with Makary that the government's supposed agreement with the food companies does not mean any regulatory changes will occur.)
In conclusion, Kennedy and the FDA, on April 22, 2025, revealed a plan to phase out synthetic food colorings from American food products. But the effort largely requires voluntary participation from the industries involved, rather than regulatory, legislative or policy changes that would constitute a ban on artificial food dye. Furthermore, should the plan go exactly as described, the country's food supply won't be free of synthetic dyes until the end of 2026.
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