With the FDA’s announcement of its plan to ban food dyes by the end of 2026, food and beverage manufacturers everywhere will be left scrambling to figure out how to change their recipe formulations.
Restaurants that buy from these manufacturers are also left in a bind. Either the sources change the formulations to be free of the dyes in question, or the restaurants are left to find a different manufacturer…
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As a quick recap, the dyes that are slated to be banned by the end of 2026 are below. (Sometimes the dyes will have ‘FD&C’ before their names, but it’s the same dye with or without the FD&C in the name.)
- Citrus Red 2
- Orange B
- Green 3
- Red 3
- Red 40
- Yellow 5
- Yellow 6
- Blue 1
- Blue 2
Now let’s look at examples of menu items with hidden dyes, some hidden and some more obvious…
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It can be pretty easy to spot foods with added dyes at times. Some foods are a bit more sneaky with hidden dyes, and Arby’s has a prime example.
Would you expect food dyes to be in the buns? I certainly didn’t! The reason the dyes are added is almost equally surprising…
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Brioche buns are different from regular buns because they have egg in the dough. Arby’s brioche buns and slider buns don’t have real eggs in them, but they DO have “egg shade color” dye added to give you the illusion they contain eggs.
“Egg shade color” contains Yellow 5, Yellow 6, and Red 40, so any item on Arby’s menu on a brioche or slider bun contains banned dyes. Pretty crazy, isn’t it?!
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One of the most popular menu items at McDonald’s has banned dyes. The M&M McFlurry is loaded with dyes thanks to the M&Ms, which contain: Blue 1, Blue 2, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, AND Red 40.
There are a few other outliers at McDonald’s (mainly fountain drinks), but overall, McDonald’s has done a good job avoiding food dyes in its recipes.
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Here’s another crazy one. The onion rings at Applebee’s have dyes added to enhance their golden color. Yellow 5 and Yellow 6 are listed as ingredients for the onion rings, so those will have to go when the food dye ban is enforced.
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Another example of a not-so-obvious source of food dyes is the Honey Dijon Mustard and Honey Dijon Mustard Sauce at Applebee’s. Both contain Yellow 5 to enhance the color, which you might not expect given even bright yellow mustard (like French’s) doesn’t contain any dye (it gets the bright color from turmeric).
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Culvers is famous for its frozen custard, which is different from regular ice cream because it has egg yolk added to it.
Several of the mix-ins for the frozen custard at Culvers are loaded with food dyes:
- Blue Sprinkles (Blue #1)
- Butterscotch Topping (Yellow #5 and Yellow #6)
- Chocolate Flavored Syrup (Red #40 and Blue #2)
- Crème De Menthe Topping (Yellow #5, Blue #1)
- French Bavarian Cream Filling (Yellow #5, Yellow #6)
- Maraschino Cherry (Red #40)
- Mint Syrup (Yellow #5, Blue #1)
- Wild Cherry Topping (Red #40)
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Chick-fil-A’s menu is mostly clear of banned dyes, but there are a couple of culprits that will need to be addressed.
The Spicy Chicken Sandwich (and Spicy Chicken Biscuit) contains Yellow #6 in the seasoning. The regular chicken (the kind used in the rest of the menu) doesn’t have any dye added, which is the good news.
The other sneaky culprit on the Chick-fil-A menu seems like a straightforward fix. The maraschino cherry used as a topper for the milkshakes has Red 40 added.
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The Doritos taco shell used for several menu items at Taco Bell contains Yellow #5, Yellow #6, and Red #40. These menu items are:
- Doritos Cheesy Gordita Crunch
- Nacho Cheese Doritos Locos Taco
- Nacho Cheese Doritos® Locos Taco Supreme®
Nearly every flavor of the Agua Refresca drinks, as well as the Limonada drinks, contains banned dyes. (Taco Bell uses Tropicana lemonade for the Limonada, and that contains Yellow #5, even without the added flavor syrups.)
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Several Blizzard flavors contain banned artificial food dyes. The Mint Oreo Blizzard is just one example, containing Yellow #5 and Green #3.
In addition, the strawberry milkshake uses Red 40 to enhance the color.
(There’s also some surprising dye-free Blizzards. For instance, the Cotton Candy Blizzard uses only colors from fruits and vegetables.)
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As you can see, chain restaurants nationwide have some work to do to make their menus compliant with the proposed dye ban.
Many major brands are jumping on board and pledging to remove food dyes, but some stragglers seem resistant to the whole idea.
What do you think of the FDA’s decision to move towards banning artificial food dyes? Is it a big step in the right direction, or just a drop in the bucket, in your opinion? Sound off in the comments!
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