The cases of Kool-Aid fogs are stacked in a big costco store on April 27, 2025 in San Diego, California.
Kevin Carter | Getty images
Kraft Heinz said on Tuesday that it would eliminate FD & C artificial dyes from its products by the end of 2027, and will not launch any new product in the United States containing these ingredients.
The company said in a press release that around 10% of its American items use FD&C colors, the synthetic additives that make many more visually attractive foods. The Kraft Heinz brands that sell products with these dyes include Crystal Light, Kool-Aid, Mio, Jell-O and Jet-Puffed, according to a spokesperson for Kraft Heinz.
The company has removed the artificial colors, the conservatives and the flavors of its macaroni and Kraft cheeses in 2016 and its Ketchup Heinz has never used artificial colors, according to Pedro Navio, president in North America at Kraft Heinz. We do not know how the elimination of dyes will affect the activities of the company, because consumers could perceive products as well as healthy but can also be less attracted to duller colors.
The decision follows the pressure of the Food and Drug Administration of the United States and the Ministry of Health and Social Services, led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., for the food industry to withdraw from artificial dyes within the framework of a so-called Make America sound platform again.
In April, the FDA announced a plan to eliminate the use of oil -based synthetic dyes by the end of next year and replace them with natural alternatives. In addition to the red n ° 3 previously prohibited, the other dyes that will be eliminated include the red color 40, the yellow color 5, the yellow 6 color, the blue color 1, the blue color 2 and the green color 2, said the commissioner of the FDA Marty Makary.
Kennedy said at the time that the FDA and the food industry had “an understanding”, not a formal agreement, to eliminate artificial dyes. The Secretary of Health and Social Services discussed the elimination of artificial food dyes at a meeting in March with the best food executives of companies such as Kraft Heinz, Pepsico North America, General Mills,, WK Kellogg,, Tyson Foods,, JM SMUCKER And the Consumer Brands Association, the best commercial group in industry.
A spokesperson for Kraft Heinz said on Tuesday that the company is looking forward to joining the administration “to provide quality food, affordable and healthy for all.”
The momentum against food colors had been built for years. In January, before President Donald Trump and Kennedy took up their duties, the FDA announced the ban on the use of red dye n ° 3 in the food and drugs ingested. The dye gives many candies and cereals their bright red color, but is also known to cause cancer in laboratory animals. The FDA allowed Red n ° 3 to be used by food manufacturers for years, although the state of California has already prohibited the dye in 2023.
Kraft Heinz said on Tuesday in the statement that he had brought more than 1,000 recipe changes over the past five years to improve product nutrition.
“The vast majority of our products use natural colors or not colors, and we have been traveling to reduce our use of FD & C colors in the rest of our portfolio,” said Navio. “Above all, we focus on the supply of nutritious food, affordable and taste to Americans and it is a privilege that we do not take lightly.”