Kraft Heinz Co. today (June 17) announced it will not launch any new products in the U.S. with Food, Drug & Cosmetic (FD&C) colors, effective immediately, and it will remove the remaining FD&C colors from its U.S. product portfolio before the end of 2027.
Kraft Heinz did not specify the colors – repeatedly referring to them as “FD&C colors” – but presumably they are the seven petroleum-based colorants – Blue 1 & 2, Green 3, Red 3 & 40 and Yellow 5 & 6 – earmarked by FDA and Health & Human Services officials in an April 22 press conference.
The company joins what so far is a small list of U.S. food processors who are following the April 22 request of FDA and HHS officials to voluntarily remove the colors from products "by the end of next year." Red 3 already has been banned as of Jan 15, 2027.
Top executives of PepsiCo, Danone North America, TreeHouse Foods and Tyson last month said work was underway to remove the synthetic color additives from their products, although none provided a firm deadline.
“Already, nearly 90% of Kraft Heinz’s U.S. products are free of FD&C colors (by net sales),” the company said. “For the small portion of products that currently contain FD&C colors, the company has invested significant resources, mobilizing a team to address this complex challenge with a three-pronged approach (3Rs):
- 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.
From an online search, it looks like a few variations of Kool-Aid and Jell-O still have some synthetic color additives.
“As a food company with a 150-plus year heritage, we are continuously evolving our recipes, products and portfolio to deliver superiority to consumers and customers,” said Pedro Navio, North America president at Kraft Heinz. “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. In fact, we removed artificial colors, preservatives and flavors from our beloved Kraft Mac & Cheese back in 2016.”
Kraft Heinz also is working with licensees of its brands to encourage them to remove FD&C colors.
