The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has officially banned red dye — called Red 3, or Erythrosine — from foods, dietary supplements and ingested medicines, as reported by the Associated ...

The dye is known as erythrosine, FD&C Red No. 3 or Red 3. The ban removes it from the list of approved color additives in foods, dietary supplements and oral medicines, such as cough syrups.

Red 3 is a synthetic colour additive made from petroleum and chemically known as erythrosine; it is used to give foods and beverages a bright cherry-red colour known to cause cancer in animals and ...