Food giant General Mills announced that all of its U.S. cereals will now be made without synthetic dyes.
General Mills produces popular cereals like Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and Lucky Charms.
The move comes five months after the company removed all synthetic dyes from the food it sells in K-12 schools, Food Dive reports.
This isn’t the first time General Mills has removed dye from its products. It tried to remove the synthetic dye from Trix in 2016, but consumers complained that the cereal appeared dull, so the company brought the dyes back.
“As the leader in cereal, General Mills is focused on giving people what they are looking for from the brands they know and love,” Bethany Quam, president of Big G Cereal at General Mills, said in a statement. “This achievement reflects how we are evolving with consumer needs while continuing to offer food that tastes great, delivers quality and provides value.”
The move is in part a response to pressure from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy, who has advocated for the removal of synthetic dyes from U.S. foods as part of his “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.
In 2025, the HHS and FDA issued a joint announcement that it would move to “phase out all petroleum-based synthetic dyes from the nation’s food supply.”
“For too long, some food producers have been feeding Americans petroleum-based chemicals without their knowledge or consent,” Kennedy said in a statement at the time. “These poisonous compounds offer no nutritional benefit and pose real, measurable dangers to our children’s health and development. That era is coming to an end.”
WK Kellogg, which makes Froot Loops, said earlier this month that it will also use natural dyes in its products going forward.
General Mills said in a statement that it plans to launch more than twice as many new products that align with consumers’ demand for more nutritional offerings and ingredients.
The Campbell’s Company and Nestle have both pledged to remove artificial dyes before the end of 2026 in keeping with the HHS’s agenda. Other companies, like Kraft Heinz and Conagra Brands, have committed to remove them by the end of 2027, according to Reuters.
“Nearly 40% of the entire packaged U.S. food and beverage supply has publicly committed to removing artificial dyes in the near term,” a spokesperson for the health department said.