Billionaire hedge fund investor Bill Ackman reportedly condemned the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week, asserting that the agency delayed excessively in prohibiting Red No. 3 from the U.S. food supply.
He conjectured that the forthcoming Trump administration influenced the situation, informing his followers that the FDA “finally decides to do its job” few days prior to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
Ackman contended that Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s nominee for the Department of Health and Human Services, “must reform the FDA.”
On Wednesday, the FDA issued an order to rescind the permit for the use of Red No. 3, also referred to as Erythrosine, which imparts a vivid cherry-red hue, in food and consumable pharmaceuticals.
The ruling is based on an examination of a petition asserting that, pursuant to the Delaney Clause, the FDA ought to prohibit this color additive in food and pharmaceuticals at the federal level due to its demonstrated carcinogenic effects in animals.
For how many years did how many children and adults get exposed to this dangerous toxin and the @US_FDA did nothing? And all it took was @RobertKennedyJr and an incoming @realDonaldTrump administration to be inaugurated in four days, and the FDA finally decides to do its job.… https://t.co/384yzL1YLT
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) January 16, 2025
The color has been predominantly utilized in various culinary items, including confections, cakes, cookies, frozen desserts, frostings, and certain oral medications.
Nonetheless, for more than thirty years, it has been prohibited in cosmetics and topical pharmaceuticals following evidence indicating its correlation with animal carcinogenicity.
Federal officials stated that the mechanism by which Red No. 3 induces cancer in male rats does not manifest in humans, and that the exposure levels to the artificial dye in humans are generally significantly lower than those that elicit the observed consequences in male rats.
Henceforth, any firm utilizing the dye in food and consumable pharmaceuticals will have until January 15, 2027, or January 18, 2028, respectively, to reformulate their products.
According to the FDA, people may still encounter it as an ingredient in food or medication products available on the market beyond the specified dates if the product was produced prior to the effective date.
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