How brightly colored do we want our food? For brands, it's a hill to dye on

"Cupcake icing and sports drinks in all their crayon-like colors are the final frontiers for Nick Scheidler's team. Scheidler leads product development at Walmart's Sam's Club, which in 2022 committed to by the end of this year remove dozens of ingredients from its store brand called Member's Mark. That includes high-fructose corn syrup, some preservatives and artificial dyes. The latter proved the trickiest."

"The race is on now, under pressure from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and some states. Major food brands are pledging to phase out synthetic dye from snacks, candy and cereals: Kraft Heinz, Nestle, Campbell's. Even Mars says it will try a naturally colored version of M&M. And they're spending millions to keep shoppers from noticing the switch to natural dyes, striving for vibrancy and saturation to match the old look, bright and vivid."

"Ten years ago, General Mills made a splashy pledge to remove artificial dyes from cereal and released Trix colored naturally with fruits and vegetables. The new version was duller in color than the original and missing the bluish puffs. And many shoppers hated it. One man told the Wall Street Journal the new Trix was "basically a salad now," as people took to social media and the news to complain. General Mills capitulated and brought back the original Trix, artificial dyes and all."

Walmart's Sam's Club committed in 2022 to remove dozens of ingredients from its Member's Mark store brand by the end of this year, including high-fructose corn syrup, certain preservatives and artificial dyes. Color has been the most difficult change to implement because consumers expect bright, saturated hues. Major brands including Kraft Heinz, Nestle, Campbell's and Mars are pledging or trialing natural colorants and spending millions to match the vibrancy of synthetic dyes. Pressure is rising from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and some states. General Mills' earlier removal of dyes from Trix led to consumer backlash and a reversal.

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