No.
Some of our systems do include two small vials of red food coloring, which customers can use to run a simple test to verify that their Berkey® system has been assembled correctly and is not leaking (also known as the “Red Food Coloring Test”).
The food coloring included with our systems is known as Allura Red AC (E129), INS 129 or FD&C Red No. 40 (depending on the country/region) and is NOT banned. Berkey® systems do not include FD&C Red No. 3.
FD&C Red No. 3 was banned in the U.S. in January 2025 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in food or ingested drugs in the United States. Per the FDA, manufacturers who use FD&C Red No. 3 will have until January 15, 2027 (for food) or January 18, 2028 (for ingested drugs) to reformulate their products.