The Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday it had decided to revoke Red 3's authorization to be added to foods, over concerns about how the food coloring is linked to cancer in laboratory animals.

Studies show high doses could cause cancer in rats, but the regulators maintain that no evidence exists that ingesting the coloring causes cancer in humans.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday banned the use of Red No. 3, a synthetic food dye that gives some candies, cakes and oral medications a cherry-red color, following evidence that the dye causes cancer in laboratory rats.