This week, the Trump administration’s Food and Drug Administration pressed food manufacturers to speed up their phase-out of synthetic Red No. 3, while also announcing approval of a natural blue food dye. This follows the FDA’s approval of three other natural food colors in May and a joint FDA and Department of Health and Human Services announcement in April that the administration will phase out all petroleum-based synthetic dyes from the nation’s food supply. The Trump administration stated its intention to facilitate the production of healthy food when it established the Make America Healthy Again Commission in February.
In a woefully underreported win for the Trump administration, multiple food manufacturers have responded positively to the administration’s MAHA efforts. So far in this calendar year:
Conagra Foods pledged to “complet[e] the removal of certified Food, Drug & Cosmetic colors (“FD&C colors”) from its U.S. frozen product portfolio by the end of 2025.” Conagra also pledged that, beginning with the 2026–2027 school year, it would no longer sell products with FD&C colors to K-12 schools. Additionally, Conagra promised to stop manufacturing products “across its U.S. retail portfolio” with FD&C colors by the end of 2027.
Consumer Brands promised that beginning with the 2026–2027 school year, it would no longer have FD&C colors in its products served in schools.
General Mills pledged to remove FD&C colors from all its products in K-12 schools, and from all of its cereals, by summer 2026. General Mills has also promised to remove all FD&C colors from its entire retail portfolio in the US by the end of 2027.
Hershey promised to remove synthetic dyes from its products by the end of 2027.
In-N-Out stated that it has “removed artificial coloring from our Strawberry Shakes and Signature Pink Lemonade. We’re also in the process of transitioning to an upgraded ketchup, which is made with real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.”
The J.M. Smucker Co. pledged that, by the end of 2027, it will no longer sell consumer food products with FD&C colors, and that it would not sell products with FD&C colors to K-12 schools by the 2026-2027 school year.
Kraft-Heinz promised that it will no longer introduce new products to market with FD&C colors, and that it will remove all such colors from all its products before the end of 2027.
After being pressed on this for nearly a decade by the Center for Food Safety, Mars announced this May that it had already removed titanium dioxide from Skittles by the end of 2024.
McCormick stated that it would work with its restaurant and food manufacturer partners to reformulate products free of food dyes.
Nestlé USA pledged to cease producing food and beverages with FD&C colors by “mid-2026.”
PepsiCo promised to cease producing Lays and Tostito chips with artificial ingredients by the end of this year.
Sam’s Club, owned by Walmart, pledged to remove over 40 ingredients (including artificial colors, dyes, and high-fructose corn syrup) from all its brand (Member’s Mark) food and beverages by the end of this year.
This February, Steak & Shake began cooking all of its French fries in 100 percent all-natural beef tallow and this April, the company began using 100 percent Grade A Wisconsin butter instead of its former “buttery blend,” which contained seed oils.
Tyson Foods purged its foods of synthetic dyes in May.
The recent statements and actions of these 14 companies will hopefully be just the beginning in a tectonic shift facilitated by the Trump administration to clean up America’s food supply.
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