A hill to dye? Kellogg doesn’t want to give up the bright colors of Froot Loop

Froot Loops will retain their artificially brightened colors. Some Pop-Tarts will lose them. Welcome to the ongoing experiment that is the American breakfast.

Both companies were created after last year’s split of Kellogg Co. based in Battle Creek are currently facing new regulations regarding the use of artificial food colors, forcing them to chart their own course in the controversial area of highly processed foods, especially those intended for children

Canadian Froot Loops (left) have a darker color palette than the American version produced by W.K. Kellogg Co. based in Michigan.

Chicago-based Kellanova, maker of Pop-Tarts and Rice Krispies Treats, is working to replace artificial additives in some of its products with natural alternatives after one state banned their dyes. However, breakfast cereal maker WK Kellogg Co., which remains in Battle Creek, is withholding its dyes because they have not yet violated the new regulatory restrictions, even though the company has found a way to do without those dyes in essentially the same products sold in Canada.

Kellanova’s actions could be a sign of what’s to come as food companies violate regulations on the use of dyes. Last year, California banned some chemicals used in food and candy starting in 2027, saying they cause health problems. These included red food coloring No. 3, which is already banned for most uses in Europe. This year, a state proposed bill banned seven more dyes in public schools, including Red No. 40, Yellow No. 5 and Blue No. 1 and 2, because they have been linked to cancer, neurobehavioral problems and hyperactivity. Other states are currently considering their own bans.

Now Kellanova is trying to find substitutes for Red No. 3, which is found in MorningStar Farms vegetarian bacon, some Pop-Tarts Bites and Eggo’s cotton candy unicorn waffles. “Our research and development team is working to find suitable alternative ingredients,” a spokeswoman said in an email.

The company is also considering options for the color red No. 40, found in some Pop-Tarts and Rice Krispies treats, to meet those requirements in due course.

Both WK Kellogg’s Froot Loops and Apple Jacks use Red No. 40, not Red No. 3, so the regulations do not apply to grains (yet). And it resists change because Americans simply don’t like duller options.

The company has spent “significant resources” researching what colors consumers around the world want in their cereals, according to an April 2024 position paper obtained by Bloomberg News. “In the Canadian market, our cereal recipes that use natural colors are better received than in the U.S.,” he says.

However, if state law hits the grain portfolio at some point, the company will need to find alternatives. “In the face of any regulatory changes that affect us, whether federal or state, WK Kellogg Co. will of course make the required changes to ensure compliance,” the company told Bloomberg.

Every major food manufacturer will have to figure out what these bans mean for them, said Sarah Gallo, vice president of product policy at the Consumer Brands Association, an industry trade group. The industry opposes a “patchwork” approach in which each state makes its own laws, Gallo said, and prefers that all operate under federal Food and Drug Administration regulations, which state that dyes “are safe when used properly.” The group is reaching out to California lawmakers to share that perspective, she added. “Food safety is the No. 1 priority for our member companies,” she said.

WK Kellogg claims that more than 80% of its cereal sales come from products that do not contain the disputed dyes. But it continues to use them in children’s breakfast products, including limited editions such as the glitter-covered Caticorn and brightly colored Baby Shark cereals, as well as the still available blue and red ICEE Cereal cereals.

“It’s one thing to study preferences for existing cereals, but it’s a completely different set of unethical principles to create completely new cereals with dyes from scratch,” said Vani Hari, an activist and author known as Food Babe, who works with a coalition to pressure the WK Kellogg to remove the dyes.

The bans didn’t come out of nowhere – questions about the safety of food dyes have been circulating in the industry for years. Nearly 10 years ago, companies said they would phase them out, not for safety reasons but to adapt to consumer preferences. In 2015, Kellogg said it hoped to remove artificial colors from its recipes, Kraft said it would remove them from its iconic macaroni and cheese, and General Mills said it would remove them from its cereals. The following year, Mars stated that it would remove “all artificial colors from its human food products.”

Macaroni and cheese is one success story: In 2016, Kraft Heinz announced it had stopped using dyes for months, replacing them with spices like turmeric and paprika, and consumers were none the wiser.

But Kellogg, General Mills and Mars weren’t so lucky. Dyes returned to Trix cereal in 2017. By 2021, Skittles maker Mars also issued a challenge, saying consumers wanted an “up-to-date vibrant palette” that only artificial colors could offer.

Mars found that consumer expectations “vary significantly across markets,” so it took a “locally tailored” approach, a spokesman told Bloomberg. General Mills did not respond to a request for comment.

Calley Means, co-founder of medical cost advisory group Truemed and another member of the coalition pressuring WK Kellogg to remove the dyes, said the fight won’t end there. “We’re focused on Kellogg,” he said, “and then we’ll move on to the next one.”

With help from Monique Mulima