Dive Brief:
- General Mills’ U.S. cereals are now made without artificial colors, the Trix maker said in a statement.
- The food giant had set a goal of removing the controversial ingredients from its cereals by this summer. It comes five months after synthetic dyes were removed from all food General Mills sells in K-12 schools.
- While all of General Mills' cereals are now free from artificial colors, 10% of General Mills' U.S. retail portfolio has yet to complete the transition, the company said. The Minnesota-based firm said it remains on track to remove synthetic dyes from its entire U.S. retail portfolio by the end of 2027, including fruit snacks and baking products.
Dive Insight:
The Cheerios maker attempted to remove artificial colors from Trix in 2016 but brought it back after about a year following consumer complaints about the duller appearance. Now, a decade later, General Mills is trying again.
"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."
Food makers quickly pledged in 2026 to remove artificial colors from their portfolios following pressure from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. General Mills’ announcement also follows Froot Loops maker WK Kellogg, which earlier this month said that all of its products will use dyes from natural sources, with shipments to retailers expected by the end of 2026.
General Mills said the move away from artificial colors is part of a larger push by the company to meet consumer demand for clean-label offerings. This fiscal year, the food company said it will launch more than twice as many new products that align with evolving consumer nutrition preferences for ingredients like protein and fiber as it did two years ago.
