RFK, Jr. did not waste time, that’s for sure.
As you likely know, a centerpiece of his “Make America Healthy Again (or MAHA) agenda is to remove artificial and heavily processed ingredients from the American food supply.
Their first target: Artificial food dyes.
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The FDA has announced a plan to phase out eight artificial food dyes affecting many extremely common foods.
Now, this is a voluntary ban, so it depends on the affected food industries agreeing to comply.
Generally they’ve fallen into line – at least so far – and have begun plans to retool.
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Here’s the full list of ingredients the FDA has banned:
– Citrus red 2
– Orange B
– Green 3
– Red 40
– Yellow 5
– Yellow 6
– Blue 1
– Blue 2
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Here’s a short (not complete) list of impacted foods:
– Many chip flavors – especially Doritos, Cheetos, and several varieties of Pringles
– Loads of candy – pretty much anything with super bright colors, including M&Ms, Skittles, Airheads, and gummies
– Tons of sodas (think Fanta, Mountain Dew, Sunkist)
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– Lots of salad dresings and condiments (especially French dressing and pickle relish – again, neon bright!)
– May energy drinks and powdered drink mixes (also some flavors of Gatorade)
– Hot dogs (their casings are usually colored with Orange B. Don’t think too much about it.)
– Many gelatins and puddings (again, neon colors are a sign)
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Of course, the FDA isn’t just banning these dyes – they’re also trying to bring new dyes to market so we aren’t all stuck with sad beige food.
Recently the FDA approved three new dyes:
– Galdieria extract blue
– Butterfly pea flower extract
– Calcium phosphate
…and they’re actively working to get more on the market so that food makers have plenty of alternatives to the artificial stuff.
Plus…
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The FDA has set the goal of removing these food dyes by 2026, which gives the impacted industries roughly 18 months from now to adjust their recipes and retool their supply chains.
And given all the moving parts, I think it’s fair to say that they’re going to need some time!
But as I mentioned earlier – food companies are working fast to get into compliance. Here are a few:
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A lot of the impacted kids’ cereals are made by General Mills, so it’s a big deal that they’re moving to get rid of artificial dyes in their cereals.
More specifically, their timeline is that they expect to have artificial dyes removed from all cereals and school foods in the US by the summer of 2026…
With the food dyes completely removed from all of its products by the end of 2027.
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As you can see, that timeline is a little longer than what the FDA envisioned, but it’s of course obviously in the same direction.
This highlights the push-pull of regulatory negotiation – is the FDA really going to kick up a stink when General Mills is doing what it wants, just taking a little extra time about some parts of it?
Especially given that General Mills has already eliminated these dyes from 85% of its US-sold foods?
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You know Pepsi for its sodas, but what you may not know is that PepsiCo is a global conglomerate that also owns Frito-Lay and its many popular chip brands (Tostitos, Fritos, Lay’s chips, and more…).
And again – we know lots of chips have artificial dyes in them, so this is a big deal for signaling where the industry is headed.
PepsiCo recently announced that they’re accelerating their transition away from artificial colors.
Lay’s and Tostitos should both be free of artificial dyes by the end of 2025(!), and they’ve already moved 60%+ of their US foods off the banned dyes.
So, lots of progress to report here.
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Kraft Heinz is another one of those conglomerates that owns way more than you think.
I mean, Kraft – mac & cheese, right? And Heinz – ketchup and condiments.
And that’s all true, but they also own Jell-O, Crystal Light, and Kool-Aid.
So again – as Kraft Heinz goes, so go a bunch of important brands (and likely lots of competitors).
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Kraft Heinz has announced that it will:
– Stop making new products with the banned dyes, immediately;
– Retool to remove all of these dyes from the rest of its products by 2027.
Kraft Heinz is apparently nearly 90% of the way there already, as that’s the proportion of its products that are already free of these artificial dyes
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Several other companies are making similar announcements:
– Danone North America
– Tyson
– TreeHouse Foods
I won’t bore you with all the details, but they’re all moving in the same direction.
One company we haven’t heard from yet: Mars (maker of M&Ms), so there’s undoubtedly still more to come.
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So there you have it – a number of huge conglomerates are scrambling to comply with the FDA ban, and more announcements and plans are being announced seemingly daily.
This is a huge win for the MAHA movement, and we’ll see what RFK, Jr. and the FDA target next.
In the meantime, I’m curious – does anything I’ve shared change how you’re shopping and what you’re buying?
Let us know in the comments!
And of course…
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Here at The Coconut Mama, we’re passionate about covering the food stories that matter most.
Whether it’s new FDA regulations, food recalls, restaurant menus, dietitian guidance, homemade recipes, or really anything else about food, health, and DIY – we’ve got you covered.
If you’re passionate about these topics as well, make sure to follow The Coconut Mama. Click here to access The Coconut Mama’s profile page and be sure to hit the Follow button here or at the top of this article!
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