---
title: Synthetic Food Dyes Start Coming Off American Shelves in January 2027
description: The FDA has revoked Red No. 3 from January 2027 and California, Texas and West Virginia have set their own dates. What changes on the shelf, and when.
author: Dr Marina Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
updated: 2026-08-06T23:26:47.651Z
canonical: https://richhealthmagazine.com/article/synthetic-food-dyes-2027-deadline
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/froot-loops-natural-colors-bowl-112402.webp
categories: Nutrition
content_type: Analysis
region: United States
publication: Rich Health Magazine
schema_type: Article
---

Kellogg's Froot Loops and Apple Jacks will be made without artificial colors by the end of this year, and the new boxes reach shops before Christmas. WK Kellogg Co says the cereal will taste the same and look the same, with the colors coming from natural sources instead of synthetic ones.

The bigger change is the one underneath it. Since the start of 2025 the Food and Drug Administration and three states have each set their own dates for taking synthetic colors out of American food, and most of those dates fall in January 2027. Kellogg is arriving a year early at a line it would have had to cross anyway.

## The FDA Has Already Revoked Red No. 3

In January 2025 the FDA granted a petition from the Center for Science in the Public Interest and others and revoked the approved uses of FD&C Red No. 3 in food, dietary supplements and ingested drugs. [The order](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/01/16/2025-00830/color-additive-petition-from-center-for-science-in-the-public-interest-et-al-request-to-revoke-color) takes effect on 15 January 2027, with one instruction inside it running to 18 January 2028.

The agency gave one reason, in its own words: the petitioners “provided data demonstrating that this additive induces cancer in male rats”. The order states no finding about effects in people.

Red No. 3 is not the only color the agency has moved on this year. In July it revoked the listing for Orange B, used on the casings of frankfurters, and proposed revoking Citrus Red No. 2, used on the skins of mature oranges.

## California Bans Four Substances Outright From New Year's Day 2027

The California Food Safety Act [bars the manufacture, sale, delivery, distribution or holding](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB418) of any food for human consumption containing brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben or Red dye 3, from 1 January 2027. The state attorney general, a city attorney, a county counsel or a district attorney can bring an action, and the civil penalty runs to $5,000 for a first violation and $10,000 for later ones.

## Texas Asks For A Warning Label Rather Than A Ban

Texas takes the other route. Senate Bill 25 requires a food manufacturer to put a warning label on any product it offers for sale in the state that contains one of 44 listed ingredients, among them yellow 5, yellow 6 and titanium dioxide, where the FDA already requires that ingredient to be named on the label. It applies to labels developed or copyrighted on or after 1 January 2027, and the warning has to be set in a font no smaller than the smallest print used for other required consumer information. Nothing has to come out of the food. The shopper has to be told it is in there.

## West Virginia Took Seven Dyes Out Of School Meals A Year Ago

West Virginia moved first. A law effective from March 2025 barred seven dyes, Red No. 3, Red No. 40, Yellow No. 5, Yellow No. 6, Blue No. 1, Blue No. 2 and Green No. 3, from any meal served in a school nutrition program from 1 August 2025, with limited exceptions for what schools may still sell. From 1 January 2028 the same law treats food sold anywhere in the state as adulterated if it contains any of those seven, or butylated hydroxyanisole, or propylparaben.

## Kellogg Reaches The Line A Year Early

Against that calendar the company's timetable is early rather than late. Production of the reformulated recipes starts later this year and the new boxes ship to retailers before year end, a year ahead of the commitment it originally made. It is taking the preservative BHT out of the small amount of cereal packaging that still contains it at the same time, and adding a new on-pack nutrition guide it calls SPOONS. The changes cover the full cereal range, not a flagship brand or two, which is the part a shopper will notice in the aisle.

Where you live decides how much else changes. Red No. 3 leaves food sold anywhere in the country on the federal date. The wider bans, the warning labels and the school rules apply in California, Texas and West Virginia, and the rest of the shelf changes when manufacturers decide it does, or when their largest state market decides for them.

## FAQ

**Q: Are artificial food dyes being banned across the United States?**
There is no single national ban. The FDA has revoked colors one at a time: Red No. 3 in food and ingested drugs, effective 15 January 2027, and Orange B on frankfurter casings this July, with Citrus Red No. 2 proposed for revocation. State laws and companies' own commitments account for the rest.

**Q: Which rules apply where I live?**
California bans brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben and Red dye 3 in food from 1 January 2027. Texas requires a warning label, not removal, for 44 listed ingredients including yellow 5, yellow 6 and titanium dioxide, on labels developed or copyrighted from that same date. West Virginia has kept seven dyes out of school meals since 1 August 2025 and treats food containing them as adulterated statewide from 1 January 2028. Elsewhere the FDA's national timetable is what applies.

**Q: What did the FDA actually find about Red No. 3?**
Its order cites data from the petitioners demonstrating that the additive induces cancer in male rats, and that is the basis it gives for revoking the approved uses. The order states no finding about effects in people.

**Q: Will cereal made with natural colors look or taste different?**
WK Kellogg Co says shoppers can expect the same taste and the same colors, from natural sources. That is the company's own account of its reformulated recipes rather than an independent test.