FDA Revokes Orange B and Moves on Citrus Red No. 2 — the Quiet Half of the Dye Phase-Out

The two delistings in plain English

• FDA removed one dye authorization and proposed removing another — but nothing was banned in any practical sense. Orange B (frankfurter and sausage casings) was last batch certified in 1978; Citrus Red No. 2 (skins of mature oranges) hasn’t been certified since 2020. Neither can lawfully be used without certification, so neither has been in the U.S. food supply for years.
• The two actions are at different procedural stages. Orange B is a final order, effective September 8, 2026. Citrus Red No. 2 is only a proposal — FDA has “tentatively concluded” its use is abandoned and is taking comments for 30 days.
• Neither is a safety finding. The legal basis is abandonment: the listings are “outdated and unnecessary” because industry stopped using the dyes. FDA evaluated no new toxicology and reached no safety conclusion — a critical difference from the Red No. 3 revocation, which was compelled by the Delaney Clause.
• The signal is procedural, not substantive. These are the first petroleum-based dye delistings to move through formal color-additive rulemaking since Red 3 — evidence FDA is clearing the books by regulation, even as the phase-out of the six major dyes remains a voluntary-pledge program with no rulemaking behind it.
• One date to calendar: August 24, 2026. It is both the comment deadline on the Citrus Red No. 2 proposal (docket FDA-2026-N-6304) and the deadline to file objections or hearing requests on the Orange B order.

On July 22, 2026, FDA announced two color-additive actions, both published in the Federal Register the next day: a final order revoking the listing that allows Orange B to color the casings or surfaces of frankfurters and sausages (21 CFR § 74.250), and a proposed order that would revoke the listing allowing Citrus Red No. 2 to color the skins of mature oranges (21 CFR § 74.302, on the books since 1959). Both rest on the same ground — the authorized uses have been abandoned by industry — and the announcement frames both as part of the administration’s broader effort to phase out petroleum-based dyes from the U.S. food supply.

What FDA actually did — two instruments, two stages

The Orange B action completes a rulemaking that began on September 17, 2025 (90 FR 44786). FDA received 16 comments on that proposal; all but one supported revocation, and none claimed — or offered evidence — that Orange B is still in use or that any certified batches remain. The final order publishes July 23, 2026 and takes effect September 8, 2026. Because color-additive orders issue under section 721 of the FD&C Act, there is one more procedural step available: any person adversely affected may file objections and request a hearing by August 24, 2026, and proper objections can stay specific provisions. Given the comment record, that outcome is unlikely — but until the objection window closes, the effective date is formally conditional.

The Citrus Red No. 2 action is where Orange B stood ten months ago. FDA has tentatively concluded that the dye’s one authorized use — coloring the skins of mature oranges — has been abandoned, based on certification data showing no batch certified for U.S. food use since 2020. Comments are due August 24, 2026 to docket FDA-2026-N-6304; FDA will then decide whether to finalize. If the Orange B timeline is a guide, a final order could follow in mid-2027.

“Abandonment” is the load-bearing word

The legal basis matters more than the headline. Color additives, unlike food additives, have no GRAS pathway — every use requires an FDA listing, and for dyes like these, batch certification of every lot. That certification requirement is what makes abandonment provable from FDA’s own records: no certified batches, no lawful use. FDA’s conclusion in both documents is that the listings are “outdated and unnecessary,” not that the dyes are unsafe; the Orange B order cites the administration’s deregulatory directives (Executive Order 14192) alongside the retrospective-review obligation of Executive Order 13563. Several commenters raised health concerns about synthetic dyes generally; FDA’s response pointed back to the abandonment record rather than engaging the safety question.

That distinguishes these actions from the other federal entries on the tracker’s federal layer: Red No. 3 was revoked under the Delaney Clause after a cancer finding in animals, with real compliance deadlines (January 15, 2027 for food) and real reformulation work behind them. Orange B and Citrus Red No. 2 impose no reformulation burden on anyone — there is, by FDA’s own evidence, no one left to burden.

Why it matters anyway

For anyone mapping exposure, the practical read is: no action required, one docket worth a comment decision, two dates worth calendaring. But the actions carry real signal value on three fronts.

First, FDA is now using formal rulemaking — not just press events and pledge-tracking — to shrink the petroleum-based dye inventory. The voluntary phase-out of the six remaining major dyes (Red 40, Yellow 5 and 6, Blue 1 and 2, Green 3) still has no rulemaking behind it, and these two delistings don’t change that. But an agency that clears abandoned listings is an agency building the administrative muscle and the public record for the harder cases.

Second, the pattern suggests a queue. FDA’s stated rationale — certification data proving abandonment — applies to any listed certified color with a dormant certification record. Delisting-by-abandonment is cheap, uncontroversial, and counts toward deregulatory targets; more candidates are likely.

Third, it thins an old argument. Industry’s defense of the major dyes has long leaned on the completeness and stability of the federal color-additive system. Every delisting — however inconsequential in tonnage — reinforces the administration’s framing that the color-additive list is a living document under active revision, which is also the framing behind the state laws the State Food Additive & Dye Law Tracker follows.

What to watch next

Three things, in order. First, August 24, 2026: whether any objection is filed against the Orange B order (which could stay its September 8 effective date) and what the Citrus Red No. 2 comment record contains — citrus growers are the one constituency with a conceivable stake, and the proposal’s “tentative” conclusion becomes final only after FDA reviews what arrives. Second, whether FDA announces further abandonment-based delistings; the same certification-data logic reaches other dormant listings. Third, whether anything moves the six major dyes from the pledge track to the rulemaking track — the step that would turn the phase-out from voluntary to binding. Each development lands on the tracker’s changelog with the primary source attached.

Primary sources: Orange B final order, 91 Fed. Reg. (July 23, 2026) · Citrus Red No. 2 proposed order, 91 Fed. Reg. (July 23, 2026) · Citrus Red No. 2 docket, FDA-2026-N-6304 (regulations.gov) · FDA press announcement (July 22, 2026) · FDA — Tracking Food Industry Pledges to Remove Petroleum-Based Food Dyes