CPG giants from Kraft Heinz to PepsiCo have been saying their goodbyes to synthetic food dyes amid pressure from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—but not every company is giving in.
The FDA requested in April that brands remove petroleum-based synthetic dyes from food products, as part of Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again agenda.
Since then, a slew of big CPGs announced their plans to oblige. PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta confirmed in April that the company is phasing out artificial colors across Lays and Tostitos by the end of 2025. In June, Jell-O maker Kraft Heinz said it wouldn’t launch any new products with synthetic colors, and would remove them from existing products where “not critical to the consumer experience,” replace them with natural options, or create new colors if natural ones aren’t available, according to a company release. Lucky Charms parent General Mills said it’ll remove the colors from its US cereals and K-12 school foods by next summer. Nestlé USA, too, said it’ll remove synthetic colors by mid-2026, and Conagra, maker of brands like Birds Eye and Duncan Hines, will phase them out of all frozen brands by the end of 2025 and all products by the end of 2027.
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But some candymakers aren’t budging. A New York Times report this week identified M&Ms maker Mars and Froot Loops producer WK Kellogg as notable holdouts. Mars told the publication its products are “safe to enjoy and meet the high standards and applicable regulations set by food safety authorities around the world,” while WK Kellogg said it’s working with Kennedy to “collectively find solutions that meet consumers’ shifting needs and wants.” Mars and WK Kellogg did not return Retail Brew’s request for comment.
Christopher Gindlesperger, SVP of public affairs and communications at candy trade group the National Confectioners Association, told Retail Brew in an email the group is “in firm agreement that science-based evaluation of food additives will help eliminate consumer confusion and rebuild trust in our national food safety system.”
“We follow and will continue to follow regulatory guidance from the authorities in this space,” he said.
Gindlesperger noted, however, that a tight turnaround could be a challenge for brands, as spiked demand for the smaller supply of natural colors could lead to higher prices. The FDA’s April statement said it’s working to create a national standard and timeline for dye elimination, targeting the end of 2026 as a deadline.