Companies can now claim 'no artificial colors' if they add plant-based
color to food
[February 06, 2026]
By JONEL ALECCIA
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is relaxing rules that restrict
when food companies can claim their products have no artificial colors.
The agency announced Thursday that food labels may claim to have “no
artificial colors” when they are free of petroleum-based dyes, even when
they contain dyes derived from natural sources such as plants. In the
past, the FDA has allowed companies to make those claims only when
products “had no added color whatsoever," the agency said in a
statement.
The move is another step toward the Trump administration's aim to phase
out synthetic dyes from the nation's food supply.
In a joint statement, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA
Commissioner Marty Makary said the move would encourage companies to
switch to natural rather than synthetic colors if they can claim their
products contain no artificial colors.
“We are taking away that hindrance and making it easier for companies to
use these colors in the foods our families eat every day,” Makary said
in a statement.
Kennedy and Makary have urged U.S. companies to voluntarily remove
synthetic dyes from their products — and many food makers, such as
PepsiCo and Nestle, have complied. In addition, some states have taken
steps to ban artificial dyes from school meals.
The move drew praise from Consumer Brands, a trade group for packaged
foods, which said “all natural ingredients should continue to follow a
rigorous science and risk-based evaluation process.”
“This is a positive example of the FDA taking the lead on ingredient
safety and transparency,” Sarah Gallo, the group's senior vice
president, said in a statement.
But the label change could mislead consumers, said Sarah Sorscher,
director of regulatory affairs for the Center for Science in the Public
Interest, an advocacy group. It would allow a claim of “no artificial
colors” for any color additive that is not a petroleum-based certified
color, including potentially harmful additives such as titanium dioxide.
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Applications Scientist Anuj Bag mixes coloring with flour at
Sensient Technologies Corp., a color additive manufacturing company,
April 2, 2025, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)
 Also on Thursday, the FDA said it
had approved a new natural dye, beetroot red, and expanded the use
of spirulina extract, a color derived from algae that provides a
blue hue in foods. The FDA currently allows roughly three dozen
natural dyes in food products. The agency banned a controversial dye
known as Red No. 3 last year and has proposed banning a rarely-used
hue, Orange B.
The agency also recently said it would review the
six remaining petroleum-based dyes frequently used in the U.S. food
supply: Green No. 3, Red No. 40, Yellow No. 5, Yellow No. 6, Blue
No. 1 and Blue No. 2.
Health advocates have long called for the removal of artificial dyes
from foods, citing inconclusive studies that found they could cause
neurobehavioral problems, including hyperactivity and attention
issues in some children. Other health experts have noted that bright
synthetic colors are a key component of ultraprocessed foods
marketed to children, increasing consumption of added sugar, fat and
sodium that can lead to health problems.
Still, the FDA's website on Thursday continued to acknowledge
limited evidence for harms from artificial colors. “The totality of
scientific evidence shows that most children have no adverse effects
when consuming foods containing color additives, but some evidence
suggests that certain children may be sensitive to them,” the site
said.
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