The FDA’s broader campaign to reduce petroleum-based dyes in food has largely focused on the better-known certified colors still used in packaged products nationwide. On July 22, the agency moved on two lesser-known additives, quietly crossing Orange B off the books and starting the formal process to do the same for Citrus Red No. 2. The action is national in scope, but its most direct consumer relevance is in produce and legacy meat-processing rules rather than in the brightly colored snack foods that usually dominate the debate.
FDA finalized one dye revocation and proposed another
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced on July 22 that it had issued a final order revoking the authorized use of Orange B in food and had proposed revoking the authorized use of Citrus Red No. 2, according to the agency’s news release and Federal Register filings. The FDA said Orange B’s authorized use had been abandoned by industry after the agency reviewed public comments, while Citrus Red No. 2 is now under a proposed revocation with comments due by August 24, 2026. In practical terms, that means one dye has been formally removed from the food rules and the second is on track to follow if the proposal is finalized.
The scale involved is small compared with the six widely used certified dyes the FDA is separately tracking for phaseout through voluntary industry pledges. Orange B had long been authorized only for hot dog and sausage casings, a narrow use that federal summaries and earlier FDA materials have described as effectively dormant for decades. Citrus Red No. 2 has been authorized since 1959 for coloring the skins of mature oranges, not the fruit’s interior, and the FDA said it has not been batch certified for food use in the United States since 2020.
The agency tied both actions to its review of outdated regulations rather than to a newly announced contamination issue or foodborne-illness event. No FDA recall number applies here because this was not a recall, market withdrawal, or safety alert for a specific product lot. The FDA instead described the move as part of a regulatory cleanup and said foods using these color additives after their authorization ends would be considered adulterated under federal law.
What the move means in stores, including in produce aisles
For shoppers, the immediate effect is likely to be subtle because the dyes at issue were already either unused or used only in highly limited ways. Citrus Red No. 2’s authorized use was confined to the skins of mature oranges that were not intended for processing, and the FDA said the additive has not been batch certified since 2020. Orange B’s use was even narrower, restricted to hot dog and sausage casings under older federal rules, and the FDA said it found no evidence during the comment process to change its view that industry had abandoned that use.
That means there is no published list of affected grocery chains, orange packers, or meat brands in California, Florida, Texas, New York, or any other state because the FDA did not announce a recall or identify currently marketed products containing the dyes. The agency has not released a state-by-state list of distributors, retailers, or processing facilities tied to these authorizations. It also has not said that any specific store shelves in any city are being cleared as a result of the July 22 action.
What is confirmed is that the rule changes apply nationwide because FDA color additive regulations govern the U.S. food supply broadly, not a single region. For consumers, the practical takeaway is less about pulling a named product from the pantry and more about the shrinking list of synthetic colors that can remain legally authorized for food use. The FDA’s public materials indicate any further action on Citrus Red No. 2 will depend on the comment process now underway.
Why the FDA is doing this now
The immediate reason, according to the FDA, is that both authorizations appear outdated because industry no longer uses the dyes for their limited approved purposes. In the proposed order for Citrus Red No. 2, published in the Federal Register on July 23, the agency said its records show the color additive was last batch certified in 2020 and that it has received no certification requests since then. Based on that record, the FDA said it tentatively concluded the use had been abandoned and that the regulation had become unnecessary.
The larger context is the administration’s push to phase out petroleum-based synthetic dyes from the food supply. HHS and the FDA announced that initiative on April 22, 2025, saying the agency would start revoking the authorizations for Orange B and Citrus Red No. 2 while also pressing industry to eliminate six more commonly used certified dyes by the end of 2027. The FDA’s tracking page now lists voluntary commitments from manufacturers, retailers, and trade groups that are removing certified colors across school foods, frozen products, cereals, dairy items, and broader retail portfolios.
For customers and residents, that means this latest action is best understood as a regulatory milestone rather than a sudden store-level disruption. People buying oranges or processed meats are not being told to return or discard a named product because none was identified in the July 22 announcement. The next concrete date is August 24, 2026, when the public comment period on Citrus Red No. 2 is scheduled to close, after which the FDA said it will decide whether to finalize that revocation.