General Mills announced Tuesday that it plans to eliminate artificial colors from all of its U.S. retail products by the end of 2027, expanding its efforts to offer more natural ingredients.
The company, best known for Cheerios, also revealed it will phase out synthetic dyes from all foods provided to K-12 schools across the country by the summer of 2026. According to General Mills, this change will affect only a small portion of its school-focused offerings, as most are already made without artificial colors. Currently, about 85% of the company’s U.S. retail portfolio is free from synthetic dyes.
This development follows recent comments from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has advocated for the removal of synthetic food dyes in the U.S. food supply to help address rising rates of chronic health issues, including obesity.
In a related move, Kraft Heinz announced earlier the same day that it would no longer introduce new U.S. products with artificial colors and plans to fully remove synthetic dyes from its current lineup by the end of 2027.
