Under the direction of RFK Jr., the Food and Drug Administration is focused on banning eight artificial food dyes by the end of 2026. The FDA is calling on food and beverage manufacturers to remove dyes from their products, but it hasn’t enforced an all-out ban at this point.
The dyes on the chopping block are:
- Citrus Red 2
- Orange B
- Red 3
- Red 40
- Yellow 5
- Yellow 6
- Blue 1
- Blue 2
What does this news mean for McDonald’s, which is easily one of the most successful fast-food chains in the nation?
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When it comes to food, McDonald’s menu is largely dye-free. Burgers, fries, and everything on the breakfast menu is free of the to-be-banned ingredients.
The issue lies with some of the items on the drink, cafe, and dessert menu.
Let’s look at the menu items that currently contain the banned dyes.
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McDonald’s has pared down on its McFlurry options and currently offers two flavors: Oreo and M&M. (That’s not counting limited edition flavors that come around from time to time.)
M&Ms contain several food dyes (Blue 1, Blue 2, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, AND Red 40), so McDonald’s might have to do some flavor adjustments if Mars doesn’t remove the food dyes from M&Ms first.
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If you’re a McCafe lover, don’t worry – this is the only McCafe menu item containing food dye.
The mocha base for the Frappe contains Red 40, but the regular mocha and the caramel version don’t contain any banned dyes.
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It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Fanta Orange contains food dyes with that shade of orange. This orange soda contains Red 40, so it’s in the crosshairs of the FDA dye ban.
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Another orange-colored drink, another food dye. Along with Fanta Orange, this Hi-C drink completes the list of beverages on McDonald’s menu containing banned dyes.
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The Shamrock Shake is often available around St. Patrick’s Day. This year it was in stores from February 4-March 23.
McDonald’s doesn’t list the ingredients of the Shamrock Shake on its website anymore, but many online sources say it (at least at one point) contained Yellow 5 and Blue 1 dyes to achieve the light green hue.
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Some sauces can be tricky camouflages for food dyes. Fortunately, you don’t have to worry about dyes for the sauces and dips at McDonald’s. All of the sauces contain plant-based coloring or caramel color, which isn’t on the list of dyes the FDA is targeting.
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Did you know that McDonald’s pickles likely used to contain yellow food dye? It’s more common than you’d think!
However, McDonald’s pickles contain turmeric extract to brighten the color, so that’s one less thing they’d have to potentially change with the proposed ban!
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In 2023. McDonald’s released a limited edition berry-flavored shake called The Grimace Shake to commemorate the mascot’s birthday.
The ingredients aren’t available, but it reportedly contained plant-based dyes from flowers and sweet potatoes. That doesn’t mean there weren’t also banned dyes in there, but we won’t know unless it returns again…
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Since the announcement about the banned dyes, many restaurants and food manufacturers have made public pledges to remove food dyes within the next couple of years.
McDonald’s hasn’t made any announcements about its plans moving forward, but that could easily change in the coming months.
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To wrap it up…
The five McDonald’s menu items containing banned dyes are:
- M&M McFlurry
- Mocha Frappe
- Orange Fanta
- Hi-C Orange Lavaburst
- Shamrock Shake (likely, not confirmed)
What do you think about this list? Were you expecting it to be longer? Shorter? Chime in with a comment!
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