Nestle, other food companies vow to ban artificial colors

Nestle has joined a growing list of major food companies pledging to voluntarily eliminate artificial colors from their U.S. products by the middle of next year amid mounting health concerns.

“We are always looking for different ways to offer great tasting, compelling choices for our consumers,” Nestle’s U.S. CEO Marty Thompson said in a statement. “As their diverse dietary preferences and nutritional needs evolve, we evolve with them.”

Nestle said 90% of its U.S. products already contain no synthetic dyes. The company has been removing them from its products for the past 10 years, it said in a statement.

Nestle’s announcement dovetails with those of other major U.S. food companies.

Kraft Heinz and General Mills previously announced plans to remove artificial dyes from their U.S. products by 2027.

General Mills said it plans to remove synthetic dyes from its U.S. cereals and all foods served in K-12 schools by mid-2026, and J.M Smucker Co. said it intends to remove artificial colors from its products by the end of 2027, according to media reports.

Petroleum-based food dyes have been linked to a variety of health concerns, including allergies, cancer and behavioral changes.

They are synthetic color additives derived from crude oil and include artificial dyes such as Red No. 3, Red No. 40, Yellow No. 5 and Blue No. 1.

The recent moves follow decades of scrutiny.

In January, the U.S. government banned Red No. 3 from the nation’s food supply, nearly 35 years after the dye was banned from cosmetics due to potential cancer risks.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is among the strongest critics of these additives.

In April, he and U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary announced that the FDA is asking food companies to eliminate synthetic dyes by the end of next year and substitute petrochemical dyes with natural ingredients.

“We have a new epidemic of childhood diabetes, obesity, depression, and ADHD,” Makary said in a statement. “Given the growing concerns of doctors and parents about the potential role of petroleum-based food dyes, we should not be taking risks and do everything possible to safeguard the health of our children.”

About two-thirds of Americans support restricting or reformulating processed foods to remove added dyes, according to an AP-NORC poll cited by CBS News.

Many states are taking this matter into their own hands.

California and West Virginia have recently banned artificial dyes in foods served in schools.

In late June, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill requiring a new safety label on foods made with synthetic dyes or additives. The label will state that the products contain ingredients “not recommended for human consumption.”

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