How brightly colored do we want our food? For brands, it’s a hill to dye on

['Alina Selyukh', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img', 'Height Auto Max-Width', 'Vertical-Align Bottom .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Vertical-Align Middle .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar Is .Alignleft .Alignright'] TPR: The Public's Radio 2025-09-08 09:00:00

Major food brands are pledging to phase out synthetic dye from snacks, candy and cereals: Kraft Heinz, Nestle, Campbell’s. Is this investment of time and money — to make natural colors look less so — worth it? Recent research by Galligan and other scientists found synthetic food dyes in nearly 20% of packaged food and drinks sold in the U.S., especially those marketed to children. “People think food tastes better if it’s brightly colored,” says Marion Nestle, a longtime public health nutritionist who’s tracked research on food dyes. As of June, Sam’s Club was 96% of the way to its goal of ridding its food of artificial colors and other ingredients.