The news comes just a few months after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned the use of one dye, Red Dye No. 3, in food and ingested drugs—a move that predated Kennedy’s new role.

Made from petroleum, red dye 40 is a synthetic food dye. Some studies suggest a link between red dye 40 and ADHD behavior; the dye might trigger or exacerbate behavioral changes in sensitive children.

State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, Center for Supramolecular Chemical Biology, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, P.R. China Joint Laboratory of ...

Flamin’ Hots get their cartoonishly red color from much-maligned (but still legal) artificial dyes, Red No. 40 and Yellow No. 6. The newer chips use tomato powder and red chile pepper.