Parents have mixed feelings about FDA’s red dye ban: We’re tired of being ‘label detectives’

Just last week, Shany Qiu’s husband walked in the door of their Staten Island home with a box of Froot Loops he had just bought at the grocery store.

“The minute I saw it, I told him to throw it out — and to never buy it again,” Qiu, the mother of two daughters, ages 5 and 7, told The Post. “The girls love it, but I hate that it’s filled with artificial colors so I told him we can only buy Cheerios or Kix from now on.”

For Qiu, the news that the FDA is banning Red No. 3 from food products and ingested drugs feels like a step in the right direction.

“My younger daughter loves strawberry-flavored candy,” she said. “I told her Welch’s Fruit Snacks contain artificial dye and she was sad about it, but we’re no longer buying these anymore.”

For parents around the city, there’s a feeling of optimism about the ban on cherry-red dye as well as some disappointment that this ban won’t take effect until 2027 for food products and 2028 for ingested drugs.