Opinion | It’s time to phase out Red 40

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So, you’ve found yourself at a Midwest gas station of your choosing, fueling your Subaru as you stroll through the aisles looking for some fuel for yourself on the second leg of your road trip.

For me, since I was a kid, road trips always involved visiting my small-town grandparents, some lakeside lounging and all the Twizzlers straws I wanted. But now I’m wary of some of my once-favorite candies.

The culprit of my anxiety? Food dyes. Synthetic colorants, to be exact — derived from petroleum — that give candies, sodas and other processed foods their extra visual kick. A concern that’s not only on my mind, but on minds at the corporate level, too.

Golden Valley-based food company General Mills announced in June that it would start phasing out artificial dyes and that it aims to be completely artificial-dye-neutral by 2027. Kraft Heinz made similar projections.

Unlike in the European Union, synthetic colorants have been used with abandon by American food companies for years — at least until January, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned Red 3 food coloring. Since then, more shoppers are becoming hyperaware of the artificial dyes harbored in the products in their shopping carts, which seems to have driven food companies to question the use of artificial dyes. And it’s possible that other similar synthetic food colorants are next on the FDA’s chopping block — I see you, Red 40, an artificial food coloring that has, bizarrely, become a meme.

Job Ubbink, head of the food science and nutrition department at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, says these colorants serve no purpose other than to “cheer the food up.”

“The dyes are used very systematically … to make the food more attractive, more appealing to people.”

If there’s one thing I can commend U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on (note that it’s only one thing and not much else), it’s the emphasis of his concern regarding artificial food dyes, in addition to America’s fixation with ultraprocessed foods. If there’s more phasing out of artificial dyes from the food supply to be had, I’m all for it.

However, Ubbink believes eliminating artificial food dyes is not the cure for America’s red zone health status that we might think it will be.

“We should really keep an eye on these foods which are formulated for us to indulge, and then we indulge too much. That’s the main issue at this stage.”

Yes, we all have our edible guilty pleasures, and there’s nothing wrong with indulging yourself now and again. But the problem is not the food dyes themselves; it’s the regularity in which Americans consume the products that often house synthetic colorants.

“It’s better be safe than sorry,” Ubbink said. “There’s not a big issue with [artificial dyes], but they’re also not essential. So why would we need to continue [using them] for things which we eat on a daily basis?

“I personally don’t mind eating some M&M’s. I really don’t mind if they’re bright green or yellow or blue. But I think we can also overdo it. Using [artificial dyes] in limited amounts, or maybe getting rid of them, I think overall is not a bad idea.”

Ubbink believes that the greater American health problems — obesity, diabetes, heart disease — result from the lack of wholesome diets, and I would agree. However, making conscious efforts to avoid these synthetic dyes can only help.

Red 3 has been known to have negative, cancerous health effects in rats. Red 40 use is under strict surveillance in the E.U., requiring a warning label. And in 2023, California went as far as to implement a complete overhaul on synthetic dyes in school meals.

Eating a well-rounded diet consisting of the regular, all-encompassing food wheel — fruits, vegetables, grains, protein and dairy — in addition to swapping out artificially colored snacks for ones with natural dyes, is the recipe for a healthy amount of success.

While the FDA ban on Red 3 came down this year, food manufacturers have until January 2027 to reformulate their products, in the meantime, let me leave you with some concrete non-artificial dye swaps bound to be available at the next gas station you visit:

Instead of Haribo Goldbears? Black Forest Organic Gummy Bears.

Sour Skittles? Toxic Waste Purple Sour Candy.

Doritos Nacho Cheese? Lay’s Classic Potato Chips.

Sure, you’re probably better off eating none of these and sticking exclusively to water and whole foods, but that’s not realistic for a lot of people, especially with the temptation we encounter daily. Just try to read the nutrition labels when you’re grocery shopping, and keep in mind that the next time you’re eyeing that cold Fanta Orange Soda, make a concerted effort to pick out the equally cold Arizona Iced Tea instead.

And if you ever bring back a wide variety of bonbons from overseas, where regulators make a more concerted effort to keep synthetic colorants out of the food supply or, at the very least, to warn consumers, bring some back for me, please.

Caroline Siebels-Lindquist, who’ll be a senior this fall at Drake University, is a summer intern for Minnesota Star Tribune Opinion.