The FDA gained a lot of attention with its recent announcement regarding artificial food dyes. Under the guidance of RFK Jr., the FDA is encouraging food and beverage manufacturers to stop using synthetic food dyes by the end of 2026.
One popular Mexican restaurant needs to make some changes to its menu to be compliant, even though it’s announced that it’s removed dyes from its menu…
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On Taco Bell’s website, under the Ingredients FAQs, its answer to the question, “Does Taco Bell use artificial colors and flavors in its food?” reads:
“As part of our journey to evolve and meet the changing tastes and preferences of you – our customers – we have removed all artificial flavors and colors from our food, replacing them with natural alternatives.”
As it turns out, this isn’t 100% accurate if you look at the menu item ingredients…
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Before we dive into the offenders on the Taco Bell menu, let’s do a quick refresher on the dyes that the FDA is planning to ban by the end of 2026. The dyes in bold are the ones most often used currently.
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- Citrus Red 2
- Orange B
- Red 3
- Red 40
- Yellow 5
- Yellow 6
- Blue 1
- Blue 2
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To Taco Bell’s credit, MOST of their food doesn’t contain food dyes. However, several drinks are packed with food dyes, and a few sneaky food menu items. Let’s look at them all now…
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All of the drinks on Taco Bell’s menu with Mountain Dew contain Yellow #5 and Blue #1. (After all, yellow and blue make green!)
The Dirty Baja Blast Dream Soda mixes Mountain Dew and a vanilla creamer, and the Mountain Dew Baja Blast Freeze is like a Mountain Dew slushie, but the dyes are all the same. (We’ll see what PepsiCo decides to do with that one for potential reformulation…)
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The Dragonfruit Berry Agua Refresca contains both Red #40 and Blue #1. Interestingly, the dyes are in the “Dragonfruit Berry Syrup”, but the Dragonfruit Freeze uses “Dragonfruit Syrup”, which is colored with red cabbage juice.
Dragonfruit Berry Limonada: The Dragonfruit Berry Syrup contains both Red #40 and Blue #1. However, an additional culprit adds Yellow #5, and that’s Tropicana Lemonade.
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Mango Peach Agua Refresca: The mango peach syrup in this drink contains Yellow #6. Considering the syrup doesn’t actually contain mango or peaches, it’s not surprising that the syrup relies on an artificial dye to give the illusion that it contains fruit.
Mango Peach Limonada: The mango peach syrup contains Yellow #6, and the other dye is, again, from Tropicana Lemonade (Yellow #5). Again, we’ll see what PepsiCo decides to do with the potential reformulation…
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Pineapple Lime Rockstar Refresca: The dye in this drink comes from the Rockstar energy drink, which has Yellow #6 added for color. The pineapple syrup uses beta carotene for color, though!
Tropical Punch Rockstar Refresca: Here, you not only get Yellow #6 from the Rockstar, but Red #40 and Yellow #6 are also snuck in with the strawberry passionfruit syrup.
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Strawberry Passionfruit Agua Refresca: This drink contains Red #40 and Yellow #6 from the strawberry passionfruit syrup.
Strawberry Passionfruit Limonada: You get Red #40 and Yellow #6 from the syrup again, and another dose of yellow dye with Yellow #5 from the Tropicana lemonade.
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Any guesses on which dye the Pink Lemonade Frost has? If you guessed Yellow #5, you’re correct! (It’s from the Tropicana lemonade again…)
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Now we get to the food items with food dyes. In Taco Bell’s defense, the single culprit for these is the Doritos taco shell, which contains Yellow #5, Yellow #6, and Red #40.
These menu items with dyes include:
- Doritos Cheesy Gordita Crunch
- Nacho Cheese Doritos Locos Taco
- Nacho Cheese Doritos® Locos Taco Supreme®
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Taco Bell has already made some progress in moving away from artificial dyes. It has some work to do with its drink menu, as well as the menu items containing Doritos.
Would drinks without dyes (or a less intense color by using natural colorants) impact your decision to drink them? Why or why not? Let me know in the comments!
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