WK Kellogg said Thursday that it will remove artificial colors from all its cereals by the end of this year.
The change comes a year ahead of schedule. Kellogg said last August that it would remove synthetic dyes from its cereals by the end of 2027.
But the company said Thursday it has identified fruit- and vegetable-based juices that will give cereals like Froot Loops and Apple Jacks their distinctive colors. The Battle Creek, Michigan-based company said it has also invested in equipment that will allow it to transition to natural colors.
We have artificial-free Froot Loops up here in Canada. Compared to US Froot Loops, they don’t look neon but actually taste better since they’re colored with natural dyes.
Here’s a crazy idea: we don’t need cereal with crazy colours. “Froot Loops” could be the colour of grains and no one would suffer because of it.
That stuff is still terrible for you if you eat it regularly, with or without artificial coloring.
Categorically, yes, but that doesn’t change the US needing to get these dyes out of its foods yesterday. Within the health catastrophe Trump, RFK Jr., their followers, etc. are creating, I’ll gladly take and ride this one point we can apparently all agree on that these dyes serve no good purpose and need to go.
Edit: And I wouldn’t even stipulate “if you eat it regularly”. It’s enriched with a token amount of Vitamins and minerals of course, but that’s practically a participation trophy for cereals (seriously, the micronutrient profile is fucking pathetic); everything else about it is utter trash, and it’s terrible for you from the jump.
Edit 2: That said, the comment below about cancer link is misinformation in that the science currently does not support said link.
Removing dyes from overly sugary cereals is rearranging deckchairs on the titanic. Its completely missing the point of what makes these foods bad for you.
I won’t begrudge someone who eats a bowl of cereal occasionally as a treat any more than I would someone who has an occasional bowl of ice cream. Both are OK in moderation but not great if you’re eating it everyday. And yes, I’ll take an improvement vs doing nothing, but no one should be fooling themselves that this change makes sugary cereals ok for daily consumption.
Now we just need everyone to stop putting paprika into fucking everything for color (I’m allergic, not to color but paprika)
Weird downboats but okay, you would be very surprised with how much paprika is in things
Uhh it’s been artificial dye free in Canada for a long time, they’re dragging their feet still.
They could just stop putting it in right now, and then “transition to natural colors” when it happens.
They could even come up with some stupid fiction about why it was happening--the parrot has sensitive eyes so they had to turn off the color, and then they learn that a little color is okay. Or a bad guy turned off the color in froot loops land, and the parrot had to defeat the bad guy and turn it back on, but they can’t turn it up too high, or the bad guy will return.
Do they even have their own marketing department to do that with anymore? I would be surprised to find out that wasn’t outsourced like 25-30 years ago.
I’ve been getting Trader Joe’s fruitie cuties and they taste a bit like Froot Loops, however they use vegetable juices to get the color. They’re still not super bold colors, but they look more natural. I’m curious if that’s what will happen to Kellogg’s cereal colors.
I think you can do white with natural lead.
