Regulator action: Banned from California public school food (AB 2316, eff. 12/31/2027); FDA requested voluntary industry phase-out by end of 2026; banned in West Virginia schools (eff. 8/2025)
Regulatory status is the clearest fact here. California's School Food Safety Act (signed September 2024) bans this dye from food served in public schools statewide, effective December 31, 2027.
In April 2025 FDA announced a plan to phase this dye out of the US food supply by end of 2026 — but this is a voluntary request to manufacturers, not a ban. West Virginia enacted a broader statewide ban in March 2025; its school provision took effect August 2025, while the full statewide provision was temporarily blocked by a federal court after an industry lawsuit. On the underlying science: a 2021 systematic review by California's OEHHA, covering 27 human clinical trials plus animal and in vitro data, concluded synthetic food dyes are associated with adverse neurobehavioral effects such as inattentiveness, hyperactivity and restlessness in sensitive children, including some children without pre-existing behavioral diagnoses. FDA's position differs: it states that the totality of evidence shows most children have no adverse effects, while acknowledging some children may be sensitive. The careful reading supported by both sides is that these dyes do not cause ADHD, but may worsen hyperactivity and attention in a subset of susceptible children. Dyes serve a purely cosmetic function, so avoiding them carries no nutritional cost.