RFK Jr. wants to ban chemical dyes. Food manufacturers are not in a hurry.

Same cereals. Same sweet taste. Different shades.

A box of loot loops sold in the United States contains lively rings of red, orange, green, purple, yellow and blue – neon colors derived from synthetic dyes, such as red n ° 40, yellow n ° 5, blue n ° 1 and yellow n ° 6. In a box sold in Canada, the colored rings obtain more bladder shadows from blueberries and Hugues, with an Amazonian fruit. And not a single one is blue.

The manufacturer of the two countries, WK Kellogg, formerly known as Kellogg Company, can clearly make Froot loops without synthetic dyes. The question is: do things and other large food companies adopt the approach in the United States? And consumers, noted on coloring cereals, flame -colored nacho chips and neon -blue sports drinks consume these foods if they are a little more … beige?

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services, wants them to do it. Tuesday, Mr. Kennedy, who has long criticized the artificial dyes used in Froot loops and other processed foods as part of a larger food system which, according to him, contributes to chronic diseases and poor health, announced that he had reached “an understanding” With the main food manufacturers to eliminate food colors based on commonly used from their products by 2026.

The meaning of “an understanding” remains clear. No food company has attended the press conference, and few have declared that they would remove synthetic colors, which the Food and Drug Administration currently allows. But a change can happen. This week, citing the expected demand of consumers, the Pepsico drinks giant, which also makes Doritos and Lay crustles, said that it would eliminate synthetic colors or offer consumers natural colors in the next two years.

Mr. Kennedy may hopes that the use of his unit as a head of the agency who supervises the FDA will be sufficient to push large food companies to change their tracks. They have already responded to the pressure. About ten years ago, a number of companies tried to switch to natural colors. More specifically, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese have successfully reproduced its characteristic orange noodles by going into turmeric and paprika. But other companies have had trouble. Some returned to synthetic dyes after Sales have dropped.

However, for some detractors of synthetic dyes, Mr. Kennedy’s announcement was a disappointment. Dr. Peter Lurie, former FDA official and executive director of the Center for Science In the Public Interest, said the government should move stronger to eliminate dyes.

“History tells us that relying on the voluntary compliance of the food industry has too often proved to be a crazy race,” said Dr. Lurie in a statement.

Rewrite the recipe

Regardless of the pressure that Washington exerts, switching to natural colors will not occur overnight. It is not as simple as to simply replace yellow n ° 6 with carrot juice, said James Herrmann, director of food colors at Sensient Technologies, a company that manufactures color – artificial and natural – for the food and drinks industry.

This can take up to two years to develop seeds, grow plants and concoct the combination, say, red cabbage and black carrot extract that produces a desired shade, he said. And it’s not just the right color. Food companies should have adjustments to their processes and manufacturing facilities.

Light and heat are enemies of natural colors, making them fade, change or even, in some cases, separated, said Mr. Herrmann. Natural colors must be kept cool, and they have a relatively short shelf life, which means adding refrigeration and ensuring regular supply, he said. He added that the colors of the carrot or beet juice and their synthetic cousins ​​could have different viscosities, forcing the factories to change pump or the piping used to apply the colors.

In addition, a more natural coloring is necessary to reach a satisfactory color than the synthetic coloring, so that the recipes may have to be reformulated. “Your sugar or your flour can be turned off,” said Herrmann.

And this assumes that enough carrots, cabbage, beets and spirulina (an algae) are available to reproduce the oranges, the greens and the blues of chips and drinks for sports. Mr. Herrmann, whose company uses owner seeds for most of its dyes, said that it would not “put the seed in the ground for harvest until we know that there is a client there”.

“If everyone changes immediately,” he added, “there is simply not enough equipment in the world available to meet demand.”

Because it can take 10 times more materials of natural colors to imitate a small amount of synthetic dyes, the costs could also most likely increase.

Late Tuesday, Consumer Brands Association, the commercial organization of the food industry, said in a press release that the ingredients of food supply “have proven to be safe” and that “the abolition of these safe ingredients does not change the commitment of the product industry packaged to consumers to provide choices of safe, affordable and practical products for consumers.”

Stacy Flathau, a co-head of WK Kellogg business affairs, said in a statement sent by e-mail that 85% of its cereals contained no artificial colors, but that it removed the synthetic colors from those sold in schools. The company added that it was impatient to work with the FDA to identify the means to eliminate the artificial colors of the foods that contain them.

Growth colors from zero

Concerns concerning the safety of food colors, in particular with regard to behavior in childrenwere increasing. A 2021 Health assessment By the state of California, suggested that “synthetic food colors are associated with” behaviors “such as inattention, hyperactivity and agitation in sensitive children”. In Europe, food containing dyes are delivered with a warning label for this purpose. Health Canada, who Allows use food colors but with strict restrictions on quantities, notes on its website that he judges proof of these effects in children to be insufficient.

California prohibited artificial dyes in school meals in 2024, and last month, Virginie-Western promulgated a prohibition on the state’s scale, the most complete in the country. More states are considering restrictions.

Sensit had built its natural colors portfolio, assuming that, by 2030, food companies will be removed from the synthetics. But the chronology could accelerate.

Sens are developing its natural colors starting with the seed. He has developed a variety of beets, for example, which are larger and more saturated in color, said Herrmann. The company provides these seeds to contract farmers around the world. Once the product has been hardened, feel the pulps, spray and tries the soft purple potatoes, the red radishes and the grapes in a rainbow of extracts, powders and liquids.

The process also eliminates the flavors of most fruits, vegetables or other underlying plants, but not all.

“You are never going to remove the taste from the strawberry juice.” It will be a little acidic, a little strawberry. And it works well for a strawberry flavor in a children’s cereal, “said Linsey Herman, vice-president of research and development in Nature’s Path, which makes organic cereals and other foods.” But nobody dies for a carrot cereal. “

Even if the color, whether natural or synthetic, does not often change the taste profile of pastry or chip or frosty soda, appearance signals certain flavors – or the intensity of flavors – to consumers, said Charles Spence, professor of food psychology at the University of Oxford.

“If you reduce the level of saturation of the colors of a drink, your mind can tell you that it will have a less sweet or less sour taste than the original color,” said Mr. Spence. “Dimeling shades can point out that it is a duller flavor or employment for some people, while for others, this can point out that this is a more natural color, something more in nature.”

In recent years, Mr. Herrmann has said that around 80% of new foods and drinks on the market were made with natural colors. But food companies have dragged their feet by changing with existing popular products on the fear that consumers can reject them.

“They must understand what their unconditional fans want,” he said, “and make sure that the natural product reaches synthetic nuances as closely as possible.”