Nestle, ConAgra promise to ditch artificial dyes

Nestle and Conagra have promised to eliminate artificial colors from their U.S. food and beverages.

They are the latest big food companies to make such a pledge.

Kraft Heinz, PepsiCo, Danone North America, TreeHouse Foods, Tyson and General Mills have all announced that they are working to remove synthetic color additives from their products.

The actions come after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Administrator Martin Makary requested food companies to voluntarily stop using certain artificial food dyes.

Chicago-based Conagra said it will remove artificial colors from its frozen foods by the end of this year. Conagra’s frozen brands include Marie Callender’s, Healthy Choice and Birds Eye. The company also said it would remove the dyes from products for schools by the beginning of the 2026-2027 school year, and it will work to discontinue artificial dyes across its entire portfolio by the end of 2027.

Some of Conagra’s products already use natural dyes, according to a statement from company officials. Vlasic kosher pickle spears, for example, are colored with turmeric, not the synthetic Yellow 5. For the cheesy color in its frozen vegetable sides or its Orville Redenbacher popcorn, Conagra uses annatto, a plant extract.

The move to remove the petroleum-based dyes has broad public support, according to Nestle officials who cited a recent poll. About two-thirds of Americans favor restricting or reformulating processed foods to remove ingredients like added dyes, according to the AP-NORC poll. Both California and West Virginia have recently banned artificial dyes in foods served in schools.

Joining the movement against artificial colors, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas signed a bill this week requiring that foods made with artificial dyes or additives contain a new safety label starting in 2027. The labels would have to say the food contains ingredients “not recommended for human consumption” in Australia, Canada the European Union or the U.K.

Nestle officials said the company has been working in the past decade to remove artificial colors and dyes from its products. In 2015 the company promised to remove the colors, but then backed down of that promise.

According to Nestle officials, 90 percent of its products sold in the United States are already free of artificial colors.

The artificial dyes that are in the crosshairs are made from petroleum products and are on the FDA’s approved list for food additives. Although they have been on the removal bandwagon in recent weeks, neither Kennedy nor Makary have said the agency plans to remove the dyes from the approved list.

Health advocates have long called for the removal of artificial dyes from the Food and Drug Administration’s approved list, citing studies indicating they can cause neurobehavioral problems, including hyperactivity and attention issues, in children.

A new peer-reviewed study in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has found that 19 percent — nearly 1 in 5 — food and beverage products sold in the U.S. contain synthetic dyes.

The FDA has maintained that the approved dyes are safe and that “the totality of scientific evidence shows that most children have no adverse effects when consuming foods containing color additives.”

The FDA currently allows 36 food color additives, including eight synthetic dyes. In January, the agency announced that the dye known as Red 3 — used in candies, cakes and some medications — would be banned in food by 2027 because it caused cancer in laboratory rats. That regulation change was executed during President Biden’s Administration.

On April 22 Kennedy and Makary said they had agreement from some leaders of the food and beverage industry and were encouraging others to remove six petroleum-based colorants — Blue 1 and 2, Green 3, Red 40 and Yellow 5 and 6 — from the food supply “by the end of next year.” 

Those colors, plus Blue 2, were approved by the FDA for use in 1931. Neither Kennedy nor Makary said they would pursue regulation changes for the food dyes, but rather are relying on food companies to voluntarily suspend their use.

Nestle USA is part of the world’s largest food company and has sales in excess of $10 billion. Overall, the Nestle company has annual sales of more than $99 billion.

Nestle brands include Nestlé Toll House, Nestlé Nesquik, Nestlé Coffee-Mate, Stouffer’s,Lean Cuisine, Hot Pockets and Lean Pockets brand sandwiches, Nescafé and Nescafé Clasico, Buitoni, Skinny Cow, Dreyer’s/Edy’s, Nestlé Crunch, Nestlé Butterfinger, Wonka and Digiorno. 

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