When the Food and Drug Administration announced this week it would ban the artificial food coloring Red Dye No. 3, Winona-based Watkins wasted no time promoting its natural alternatives on social media.

The synthetic additive found in thousands of food products will now be phased out by 2027, but advocates say the agency's move is long overdue

Red dye No. 3 has been permissible for use in food despite the Delaney Clause of the FDA’s Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The clause, in part, “prohibits the FDA from approving a color additive that is ingested if it causes cancer in animals or humans when ingested,” according to the agency .

The FDA's ban on FD &C Red No. 3, also known as Red 3, will not go into effect until January 2027 for food products and beverages and January 2028 for consumable medications, meaning products containing Red 3 will still be on the market for the next two years.

The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday it’s banning the use of Red No. 3, a synthetic dye that gives food and drinks their bright red cherry color but has been linked to cancer in animals.

With Wednesday's ban of Red No. 3, there are now 8 artificial dyes in America's food supply. Discover what dyes remain, the health risk to humans, and the companies involved.

The recent decision is a victory for food safety advocacy groups who’ve been petitioning the FDA for years to end its use because they say, it’s in some products that aren’t even detectable just based on the color alone.

The Food and Drug Administration has banned the synthetic, petroleum-based dye called Red No. 3 from the nation’s food supply. This ban comes more than 30 years after the dye was banned from