Bye-Bye Red 40: New Bill Bans Major Artificial Food Dyes Starting 2025

The “Do or Dye Act” is straightforward: it sets hard deadlines for removing several common artificial food colorings from the U.S. food supply. This isn't about new labeling—it’s a total ban. If a food contains these colors after the deadlines, the FDA will consider that food “adulterated,” meaning it’s illegal to sell.

The Color Ban Timeline

This ban rolls out in two phases, targeting two groups of dyes. First, starting December 31, 2025, the ban hits “qualified color additives,” which include Citrus Red No. 2 and Orange B. These additives are generally less common, but they have to be completely out of the food supply by the end of next year. Then, the big one: starting December 31, 2026, the ban expands to “covered color additives.” This list includes the dyes you see everywhere: Red No. 40, Yellow No. 5, Yellow No. 6, Green No. 3, Blue No. 1, and Blue No. 2. The bill also sweeps up any chemicals deemed “chemically very similar” to these listed dyes, which gives the FDA broad enforcement power.

What This Means for Your Grocery Cart

For consumers, this bill means a massive, mandatory reformulation across the entire food industry. Think about how many products currently use Red No. 40 (in candy, drinks, cereal) or Yellow No. 5 (in baked goods, mac and cheese). After 2026, those colors must be replaced with natural alternatives, or the food must be sold without any coloring at all. If you’re a parent trying to avoid artificial dyes, this is a win, as the burden of checking labels shifts from you to the manufacturers.

The Industry’s Big Headache

For food manufacturers, these deadlines are tight and represent a huge expense. Reformulating a product isn't just swapping out an ingredient; it involves retesting shelf life, flavor stability, and ensuring the new ingredients can be sourced at scale. For a large corporation, changing the dye in a flagship cereal is a multi-million dollar undertaking. For smaller companies, especially those relying on these cheap, stable dyes, the cost of switching to natural alternatives like beet juice or turmeric could cut deeply into profit margins or force them to discontinue certain products. This mandatory switch could temporarily lead to higher prices on store shelves or a reduction in the variety of brightly colored foods available as companies scramble to comply with the 2026 deadline.