Video above: The FDA announced in April 2025 that it would phase out food dyes.
(Nexstar) – Dozens of ice cream and frozen dairy desserts announced on Monday that they will remove artificial food dyes from their products by 2028, making even more spontaneous moves from the coloring of such foods within the food industry.
It comes in accordance with the mission set forth by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of the Health and Welfare Department to remove artificial additives.
Why do businesses throw away artificial dyes?
In April, Food and Drug Director Marty McCurry said the agency would move to eliminate some synthetic dyes by the end of next year. This includes 3 green, 40 red, 5 yellow, 6 yellow, 1 blue, and 2 blue. By 2027, it was set to be banned in food by 2027 because it caused cancer in the laboratory rat. The FDA sought the deadline to be raised.
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Not only does the agency rely heavily on voluntary efforts by food manufacturers, it also plans to establish standards and timelines for the food industry to switch to natural alternatives and revoke approvals for non-produced dyes. Additionally, the FDA said it would approve four new natural color additives.
Which companies say they will stop using dyes?
Many US food companies have already reformulated their food, according to Sensory Color, one of the world’s largest producers of food dyes and flavors. Instead of synthetic dyes, food makers can use natural tints made from beets, algae, purple sweet potatoes, radish, algae made from red cabbage, and crushed insects and pigments.
The most recent announcement of plans to throw away synthetic colors are general Mills, PepsiCo, Conagra, Nestle, McCormick, Tyson Foods, Sam’s Club, JM Smucker, Hershey and Kraftheinz. In-N-Out confirmed in May that it had removed artificial coloring from some of its items.
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Nevertheless, relying on voluntary actions rather than regulatory requirements does not guarantee compliance, said Thomas Galligan, a scientist at the Center for the Science of the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group.
“The story is cheap,” Garrigan said. “It’s easy to promise businesses will appear to be compliant between consumers and the Trump administration, but we still don’t know if they’ll actually follow up.”
Not all companies are involved. Mars manufactures Skittles and M&M, but according to reports it is Hold-Out.
Are artificial dyes bad?
Artificial dyes are widely used in foods in the US. In Canada and Europe, manufacturers primarily use natural alternatives when synthetic colors are required to carry warning labels. Several states, including California and West Virginia, have passed laws restricting the use of artificial colors in food.
Health advocates have long sought to remove artificial dyes from food, citing mixed studies that show that in some children it can cause neurological problems, including hyperactivity and attentional issues. The FDA argues that approved dyes are safe and “the wholeness of scientific evidence indicates that most children do not have a negative effect when consuming foods containing color additives.”
Which foods contain red 3, are dyes currently prohibited by the FDA?
The FDA currently allows 36 food color additives containing eight synthetic dyes.
Susan Maine, a chronic disease expert at Yale University and former director of the FDA’s food center, said removing dyes from the food supply doesn’t address the major health issues that afflict Americans.
“All of their announcements are focused on something that doesn’t accomplish what they say,” Main said of Kennedy’s initiative. “Most of these food dyes have been in the food supply for 100 years. … So why aren’t they driving towards a reduction in what promotes chronic disease rates?”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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