Kraft Heinz Will Remove Food Coloring from Products, Meeting RFK Jr.’s Demands

Food giant Kraft Heinz has announced that it will begin to phase out food coloring from its products, and will not roll out any new products that include them. The move comes amid a recent call from the Trump Administration to ban artificial food dyes.

In a June 17 statement, the Kraft Heinz Company pointed out that “nearly 90 percent” of Kraft Heinz’s U.S. products are free of Food, Drug & Cosmetic (FD&C) colors. For the products that do contain the coloring, the company vows to remove them by the end of 2027.

In April, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary announced plans to ban artificial food dyes, citing them as part of an ongoing system that, as Kennedy has said in the past, has been allowed to “mass poison” children.

While Kennedy said he had “reached an understanding” with food manufacturers, no official ban had been put into place. On April 22, the FDA appeared to soften these initial declarations, releasing a statement saying it was going to “initiate the process” to “revoke authorization” for citrus red #2, and orange B, and “phase out” “petroleum-based synthetic dyes.” But, as dietician Dr. Jessica Knurick told PEOPLE at the time, citrus red #2, and orange B are dyes that “we don’t really use anymore,” with the exception of one sometimes being used in orange peels.

However, with its recent announcement, Kraft Heinz has vowed to begin “removing colors where it is not critical to the consumer experience; or replacing FD&C colors with natural colors; or reinventing new colors and shades where matching natural replacements are not available.”

In its statement, Pedro Navio, North America President at Kraft Heinz, pointed out that two flagship products do not contain dyes: “We removed artificial colors, preservatives, and flavors from our beloved Kraft Mac & Cheese back in 2016. Our iconic Heinz Tomato Ketchup has never had artificial dyes – the red color comes simply from the world’s best tomatoes.”

The change will impact beverage mixes like Kool-Aid, and Crystal Light, The Washington Post reports, as well as Jell-O and Jet-Puffed Marshmallows.

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