Kraft Heinz, General Mills Join List Of Companies Removing Artificial Dyes From Their Products Amid MAHA Efforts

Kennedy has argued that the removal of artificial coloring is a crucial step in improving the health of American children.

MAHA scores major victory as Kraft Heinz vows to stop using artificial food dyes



In a significant victory for the "Make America Healthy Again" movement, food giant Kraft Heinz vowed that it would remove all artificial colors from its products in the coming years.

On Tuesday, Kraft Heinz announced in a statement that it will remove artificial food, drug, and cosmetic colors from products in the United States before the end of 2027.

Kraft Heinz also declared that 'it will not launch any new products in the US with Food, Drug & Cosmetic (FD&C) colors, effective immediately.'

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration notes that there are seven certified synthetically produced color additives approved for use in foods, drugs, and cosmetics.

"The FDA’s regulations require evidence that a color additive is safe at its intended level of use before it may be added to foods," according to the FDA.

In order to be an approved additive in foods, the artificial coloring can be added only to certain types of foods and in limited quantities. Companies that use it must also adhere to FDA regulations on how the color additive is presented on the product's packaging.

As Blaze News reported in January, the FDA announced a ban on the use of Red No. 3 dye because of evidence that laboratory rats exposed to high levels of Red No. 3 developed cancer.

RELATED: Red dye 40 and hidden toxins are fueling the ADD epidemic

Kraft Heinz announced a three-pronged strategy for removing artificial colors from its existing products, including "removing colors where it is not critical to the consumer experience," "replacing FD&C colors with natural colors," or "reinventing new colors and shades where matching natural replacements are not available."

Kraft Heinz pointed out that nearly 90% of its U.S. products are free of FD&C colors.

In addition to removing artificial dyes from its existing products, Kraft Heinz also declared that "it will not launch any new products in the U.S. with Food, Drug & Cosmetic (FD&C) colors, effective immediately."

Pedro Navio — the North America president of Kraft Heinz — stated, "As a food company with a 150+ year heritage, we are continuously evolving our recipes, products, and portfolio to deliver superiority to consumers and customers. The vast majority of our products use natural or no colors, and we’ve been on a journey to reduce our use of FD&C colors across the remainder of our portfolio."

Navio stressed that the company eliminated artificial colors, preservatives, and flavors from its extremely popular mac and cheese in 2016.

The Kraft Heinz Company has several notable brands under its umbrella, including Oscar Mayer, Ore-Ida, Capri Sun, Lunchables, Jell-O, and Kool-Aid.

Kraft Heinz is the "third-largest food and beverage company in North America and the fifth-largest food and beverage company in the world, with eight $1 billion+ brands," according to the food behemoth.

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Kraft Heinz is removing all artificial colors from its brands after the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. placed pressure on food manufacturers to eliminate synthetic additives from their food products by the end of President Donald Trump's term.

In March, Kennedy urged the removal of artificial dyes from food products in a meeting with top food executives from massive companies such as Kraft Heinz, PepsiCo, General Mills, Tyson Foods, and W.K. Kellogg.

As part of his MAHA agenda, Kennedy is pushing food manufacturers to remove potentially dangerous petroleum-based synthetic dyes from food.

“For too long, some food producers have been feeding Americans petroleum-based chemicals without their knowledge or consent," Kennedy proclaimed in April. "These poisonous compounds offer no nutritional benefit and pose real, measurable dangers to our children’s health and development. That era is coming to an end."

"We’re restoring gold-standard science, applying common sense, and beginning to earn back the public’s trust," President Trump's HHS secretary declared. "And we’re doing it by working with industry to get these toxic dyes out of the foods our families eat every day."

In addition to removing artificial dyes from the nation’s food supply, the FDA is partnering with the National Institutes of Health to "conduct comprehensive research on how food additives impact children’s health and development."

Blaze News reached out to the HHS and FDA for a comment on Kraft Heinz eliminating artificial food coloring but did not receive an immediate response.

RELATED: RFK's highly anticipated MAHA report paints dark picture of America's health crisis

Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

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Getting Rid Of Food Dyes Is Good, But Healthy Eating Is Ultimately Up To Us

Fewer artificial dyes is great, but if Americans want to make their country healthy again, they can’t wait for the government to save them.

Skittles under fire: RFK Jr.’s color crackdown



Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s latest crusade as the Health and Human Services secretary includes a proposed ban on eight FDA-approved artificial food dyes across the United States.

While most conservatives are cheering on the crackdown, Stu Burguiere of “Stu Does America” isn’t so sure it’s as necessary as RFK Jr. claims it is.

“Obviously, as a conservative not really liking government intervention all that much, I’m much more comfortable with working with the food industry and letting them make their choices rather than revoking authorization for particular dyes,” Stu says.

An article in the Washington Post details what “the science says” about these artificial food dyes and their effect on children — and Stu isn’t so sure it’s as bad as we’ve been led to believe.


“Consumer advocacy groups said there is sufficient evidence that the dyes may cause some harm to some children,” Stu reads, noting that “consumer advocacy groups” are “not scientists.”

“Some may cause some harm to some children, which basically tells you pretty clearly, a lot of the studies show no harm. Some of the studies show a little bitty, tiny bit of harm, as it’s mostly associated with behavioral disorders,” he continues. “And then, finally, never in any of these studies does it hit all children. It’s a small percentage of children that it hits, even when it shows up in studies, which is not always.”

However, because artificial dyes contain no nutritional value, it doesn’t seem to be worth the risk to most parents.

“No one’s saying that you should be forced to eat artificial dyes. That would be insane,” Stu says, adding that if these dyes do get banned, there are alternatives that can be used — but they come at a price.

“They don’t use artificial dyes because they just love artificial dyes,” he says. “They use artificial dyes because they’re cheaper, they cost less money, and they are able to make a higher profit margin or charge you less.”

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