Red 3 (Erythrosine, E127)

What is Red 3?

Red 3 is a synthetic dye — chemically an iodinated xanthene, not an azo dye like Red 40 — that produces a distinctive bluish cherry-pink. In the US it is FD&C Red No. 3; in Europe it is erythrosine (E 127).

It is the color of maraschino cherries, and that is not a coincidence: its particular shade and its stability in acidic syrup made it hard to replace in that one product. Beyond cherries it has turned up in candy corn and other seasonal candy, frostings and decorating gels, strawberry-flavored milk and milkshakes, some baked goods and fruit cocktail.

Unlike most certified colors, Red 3 has never been approved for external drug and cosmetic use in the US — the food listing was the last one standing, and that is now being withdrawn too.

Why is Red 3 used in food?

Manufacturers used Red 3 because nothing else gave quite the same bright, slightly blue-toned pink, and because it holds that shade in acidic, sugary, shelf-stable products where other pinks turn brown or fade. It was never as widely used as Red 40 — in most products Red 40 is the cheaper and more versatile choice — which is one reason the phase-out has gone relatively smoothly.

Replacements now in use include beet juice concentrate, carmine (not vegan), lycopene, purple sweet potato and radish concentrates, and, for some applications, the newly approved natural-source colors FDA has been clearing since 2025.

Is Red 3 safe? What the research says

What happened, and why. On January 15, 2025, FDA issued an order revoking the authorization for Red 3 in food and ingested drugs. The legal basis is the Delaney Clause of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which says that a color additive is deemed unsafe if it is found to induce cancer when ingested by humans or animals. Red 3 induces thyroid tumors in male rats, so the clause applied.

The part that usually gets left out. In the same Federal Register notice, FDA stated that the rat findings are of limited relevance to humans, and that there is no conclusive clinical evidence that elevated thyroid-stimulating hormone — the mechanism behind the rat tumors — promotes or causes thyroid cancer in people. FDA banned the dye because the Delaney Clause removes its discretion once an animal cancer finding exists, not because it concluded Red 3 causes cancer in humans.

EFSA reached the same scientific conclusion. In its 2011 re-evaluation, EFSA kept the acceptable daily intake at 0.1 mg per kg of body weight and concluded that the rodent thyroid tumors are secondary to effects on thyroid function rather than genotoxic, and may be considered of limited relevance to humans. EFSA also estimated typical European exposure at roughly 0.003 mg/kg per day, with high consumers around 0.01 mg/kg — far below the ADI, because the dye's permitted uses are so narrow there.

How to read this. Two regulators looked at the same data and agreed on the science; they reached different regulatory outcomes because they operate under different laws. That is worth knowing before concluding that the ban implies a discovered human danger. What it does mean, practically, is that Red 3 will be gone from US food, and that people who want to avoid it now have a deadline to count on.

Other research. Red 3 was also among the dyes reviewed in California's 2021 OEHHA assessment of synthetic dyes and neurobehavioral effects in children, which concluded that synthetic food dyes can cause or worsen such problems in some children. It was not one of the dyes tested in the 2007 Southampton study.

Red 3 regulation: US vs EU

Red 3 is the one US food dye under an actual federal ban rather than a voluntary phase-out. The revocation took effect in January 2025; foods must be reformulated by January 15, 2027, and ingested drugs by January 18, 2028. In July 2025 FDA publicly encouraged manufacturers to reformulate sooner than required, and it has been approving natural-source replacement colors on an accelerated schedule — galdieria extract blue, butterfly pea flower extract and calcium phosphate in May 2025, followed by gardenia (genipin) blue.

California's AB 418 also bans Red 3 statewide from January 1, 2027, and West Virginia's HB 2354 includes it among seven dyes restricted in school nutrition programs since August 2025. Because the federal deadline arrives first in practice, the state laws mostly reinforce it. In the EU, Red 3 has been tightly restricted since the 1990s and remains permitted only in a narrow set of uses, in practice cocktail and candied cherries. Check the latest status: the January 2027 deadline is close.

Who should limit or avoid Red 3?

• Anyone who prefers to avoid it now. Until January 2027 it is still legal to sell products containing Red 3, so it remains on some labels. It must be named in the ingredient list as "Red 3" or "FD&C Red No. 3," so it is straightforward to spot.
• People who eat a lot of maraschino cherries or brightly colored candy. These are the products where Red 3 has been most concentrated, and where reformulation is still underway.
• Children sensitive to dyes. The general dye evidence, including California's 2021 review, applies here as it does to the other synthetic colors.
• People with thyroid conditions. Worth stating plainly: the rat thyroid finding is not evidence that Red 3 affects thyroid disease in humans, and neither FDA nor EFSA has said it does.