If you’ve ever eaten or drank something colorful that stained your tongue afterward, that was thanks to petroleum-based food dyes.
These food dyes are added for aesthetic purposes only, and do nothing to alter the flavor or texture of foods and drinks.
And they might be wiped from products as soon as next year…
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The FDA is encouraging food and beverage manufacturers to begin phasing out the use of food dyes, but it hasn’t yet issued an all-out ban. (It’s considered a “voluntary ban” at this time.)
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 part.)
- Citrus Red 2
- Orange B
- Green 3
- Red 3
- Red 40
- Yellow 5
- Yellow 6
- Blue 1
- Blue 2
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The Confetti Cake Blizzard is interesting. The icing has natural color sources from spirulina extract, red cabbage, and turmeric, but the sprinkles contain a ton of different dyes. The sprinkles have:
- Yellow 5 lake
- Red 40 lake
- Yellow 6 lake
- Blue 1 lake
- Red 3
(Lake dyes are versions of regular dyes, but they’re combined with a binder that doesn’t dissolve in water.)
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This blizzard has a blue ice cream base. The dye is listed as ‘Brilliant Blue FCF’, but that’s just another name for Blue 1. Sneaky!
The other dyes in this frozen treat come from the sprinkles again:
- Red 40
- Red 3
- Blue 1
- Yellow 5
- Yellow 6
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The Mint Oreo Blizzard uses Yellow 5 and Green 3 to achieve the muted mint color. Green 3 doesn’t come up on labels as often as the other dyes, but it’s still included on the list of dyes the FDA is planning on banning.
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This one isn’t a surprise, given M&Ms are loaded with artificial dyes. There’s a slew of both regular and lake dyes in this one:
- Blue 1 Lake
- Yellow 6
- Red 40
- Yellow 5
- Blue 1
- Yellow 6 Lake
- Red 40 Lake
- Yellow 5 Lake
- Blue 2 Lake
- Blue 2
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The deep red strawberry filling in the Royal New York Cheesecake Blizzard contains Red 40. It’s a bummer since strawberries are naturally red and don’t NEED more red added to look like strawberries, but food manufacturers like the colors to be brighter and bolder…
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Here’s another unfortunate case of trying to make strawberries look redder than they are naturally. Red 40 doesn’t make the strawberry shake taste any more like strawberries, but it’s all for the visual appeal.
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There are five flavors of the Misty Slush, and each one of them contains at least one food dye. Among the five flavors, three dyes are used:
- Red 40
- Blue 1
- Yellow 5
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Here’s another sneaky one! The dye in the Orange Cream Shake is listed as Sunset Yellow FCF, but that’s just an alias for Yellow #6.
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There are plenty of menu items with dyes at Dairy Queen, but here’s a really interesting outlier! Cotton candy flavored anything typically screams food dyes, but the DQ version has all-natural colors. The colors are derived from:
- Purple Sweet Potato
- Radish
- Red Cabbage
- Cherry
- Apple
Hopefully we see more of those kinds of colors replacing the banned food dyes in the not-too-distant future! (This isn’t the only dye-free colored treat at Dairy Queen, but just an example of alternatives to the banned dyes.)
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Dairy Queen is ahead of the game with some of its menu items, but it has some work to do to be completely compliant with the FDA ban. Some of the issues seem like easier fixes, like finding dye-free sprinkles.
What would you think of colorless slushies if Dairy Queen opts to nix the dyes completely for some items? Would it change your perception of them at all? Share your thoughts in the comments!
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