Major American Retailer To Rid Food Products Of Synthetic Dyes

Walmart announced Wednesday that it is moving to eliminate synthetic dyes from all of its private-label brand food products.

The world’s largest retailer also pledged to remove more than 30 additional ingredients — such as certain preservatives, artificial sweeteners and fat substitutes — from its private brand foods sold in the U.S., including Great Value, Marketside, Freshness Guaranteed and bettergoods, according to a news release. Walmart said that the move is “a significant step forward in its ongoing mission to provide customers with affordable, high-quality private brand products.”

“Our customers have told us that they want products made with simpler, more familiar ingredients — and we’ve listened,” Walmart U.S. President and CEO John Furner said in a statement. “By eliminating synthetic dyes and other ingredients, we’re reinforcing our promise to deliver affordable food that families can feel good about.”

“This commitment demonstrates how Walmart is responding to changing customer preferences, while also setting the standard for providing exceptional quality and innovation at an outstanding value,” Furner continued.

The retailer said that it plans to implement the changes by January 2027 at the latest. Walmart said in the announcement that about 90% of its private-label food products are already currently free from synthetic dyes.

The announcement follows several other major U.S. companies have recently retreated from using synthetic food dyes, including General Mills and Kraft Heinz. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been spearheading an effort to push food makers to eliminate the use of artificial colors by the end of 2027 as part of the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) initiative.