Kraft Heinz to eliminate artificial colors amid Kennedy, Health Department push

Zoom in: Kraft Heinz — one of the largest food and beverage companies in North America — said it will remove food, drug and cosmetic (FD&C) colors from its products before the end of 2027.

• It also committed to not launch any new products with FD&C colors effective immediately.
• The company said nearly 90% of its U.S. products are already free of the synthetic dyes, when measured by sales.
• The company already removed artificial colors from Kraft Mac & Cheese in 2016, while it said its Heinz Tomato Ketchup "has never had artificial dyes."

How it works: Kraft Heinz said it plans on "replacing FD&C colors with natural colors" or "reinventing new colors and shades where matching natural replacements are not available."

What they're saying: "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," Kraft Heinz North America president Pedro Navio said in a statement.

Context: In April, Kennedy announced that the Food and Drug Administration was working with the food industry to eliminate synthetic dyes from the American food supply over the next two years.

• "The industry has voluntarily agreed" to do so, Kennedy said at the time.
• But none of the industry's largest food companies — including Mars, General Mills, Kraft Heinz and PepsiCo — confirmed in April that they had signed on.

The big picture: Advocates of a federal ban say it's time for the nation to recognize that food dyes are harmful.

• But experts warn phasing out the dyes without robust evidence that they're harmful could set a worrying precedent for food regulation that's not backed up by science.