Robert Kennedy Jr. announced yesterday that the Trump administration is taking action to remove artificial food colorings from our food supply:
The Trump administration announced its intention to phase out synthetic dyes used to enhance color in common foods like candy and cereals.
At a press conference Tuesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said his agency is making the move as a first step to improve the nation’s food supply and address chronic disease.
“We are going to get rid of the dyes and then one by one, we’re going to get rid of every ingredient and additive in food that we can legally address,” he said.
The Food and Drug Administration will take several actions aimed at phasing out synthetic dyes. FDA commissioner Marty Makary announced that the agency will work with the industry to voluntarily eliminate six commonly used dyes by the end of next year. It will also start the process of banning two other colorants, Citrus Red No. 2 and Orange B; and it’s asking food companies to speed up the timeline for removing the previously banned colorant Red No. 3.
One problem: food companies say “there’s no agreement in place to remove the dyes.”
I don’t like today’s announcement for three reasons. First, I don’t think there is any evidence that currently-used food dyes, approved after rigorous FDA testing, pose a health risk. Obsession with food additives, as with herbicides and pesticides, has characterized the left, not the right. Trump’s administration shouldn’t go there.
Second, there is of course a link between food and the ill health that afflicts millions of Americans. But that link isn’t additives, it’s the food: people eat too much of it. The problem is obesity, which has reached epidemic levels. Kennedy should forget about food dyes and talk about physical fitness.
Third, one of the best aspects of Trump’s first administration was its reduction in regulations. After decades of more and more federal red tape, Trump actually reduced the regulatory burden on the American people. He had the right idea then, and he should get back to it: get rid of old regulations rather than adopting new ones. Especially when the new ones will only increase the price of groceries, one of the key issues that got Trump elected.
