U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the banning of more than half a dozen synthetic food dyes is just the beginning as he works to confront America’s chronic health crisis.
“We’re going to do real science, and we’re gonna do science precisely on the issues that American[s] care about. Making sure their kids are getting food that isn’t poison. The food our kids are eating today is not really food. It’s food-like substances,” he said on “Jesse Watters Primetime.”
RFK Jr., alongside National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Marty Makary, announced Tuesday in Washington, D.C., plans to phase out petroleum-based synthetic dyes in the nation’s food supply.
National Institutes of Health Director Jayanta Bhattacharya, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary arrive for a news conference at the Health and Human Services Department on April 22, 2025 in Washington, D.C. ((Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images))
The move is part of a broader effort by regulators to reexamine what Americans consume. The FDA banned Red Dye No. 3 from use in food earlier this year, citing links to cancer in some animals.
The FDA and HHS plan to begin the process of revoking authorization for two synthetic food colorings – Citrus Red No. 2 and Orange B – within the coming months.
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It’s also working to eliminate six remaining synthetic dyes, such as Green No. 3, Red No. 40 and Yellow No. 5, from the food supply by the end of 2026.
Ingredients, including artificial dyes Red No. 40, Yellow No. 5 and Blue No. 1, listed on a box of Froot Loops cereal, sold in the US, arranged in the Brooklyn borough of New York, US, on Wednesday, May 22, 2024. The two companies formed after Kellogg Co. split last year are now facing new regulations on the use of artificial food dyes, leaving them to chart their own courses in a controversial area for highly processed foods, especially those designed for kids. (Photographer: Lucia Buricelli/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The FDA is fast-tracking the review of other natural alternatives to synthetic food dyes, such as butterfly pea flower extract, according to a press release from HHS.
RFK Jr. told Fox News host Jesse Watters that the Trump administration is working to give kids “real food again.”
“We’ve got the highest chronic disease burden of any country in the world. When my uncle was president, 3% of Americans had chronic disease. Today, it’s 60%,” he said. “Seventy-four percent of our kids cannot qualify for military service. We have fertility rates that are just spiraling.”
The former 2024 Independent presidential candidate noted that the ingredients in Froot Loops 20 years ago were very different from those used today.
“Today, we use chemicals in Froot Loops that are banned in virtually every country in the world. So, if you buy Froot Loops today in Canada, it is made with vegetable dyes. If you buy it here in the United States, it’s made with petroleum synthetics,” RFK Jr. explained.
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He added that American consumers should be aware of the ingredients being added to their food and any potential health risks they may pose.
