Walmart to scrap synthetic food dyes, artificial ingredients from private brands

Walmart said Wednesday it is scrapping synthetic dyes and other artificial ingredients from its store brands, including Great Value, Marketside, Freshness Guaranteed and Bettergoods, by January 2027.

The Arkansas-based retailer is the latest to ditch artificial dyes amid Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” push – and perhaps the most influential, since Walmart is the country’s biggest grocery chain.

Walmart’s Great Value, alone, is one of the largest consumer brands in the country – racking up billions of dollars in sales each year.

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Walmart also plans to gradually eliminate about 30 other ingredients, including some artificial sweeteners and preservatives, from more than 1,000 products, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The shift is likely to have a residual effect across the broader US food supply chain, from Walmart’s ingredient suppliers to other producers and retailers.

Products like sports drinks, cake frosting and cheese dip will see ingredient tweaks, and some changes have already come to shelves, Walmart said.

It’s looking to phase out ingredients like titanium dioxide, a food coloring, and azodicarbonamide, which is used to help bread rise evenly.

The retailer said it is working to keep prices in check despite the ingredient switch.

Walmart’s natural ingredients agenda comes after Kennedy in April led the Food and Drug Administration to announce a plan to phase out the use of FD&C artificial dyes, including red dye 40, yellow dye 5, yellow dye 6, blue dye 1, blue dye 2 and green dye 2.

Kennedy has cited studies that have found ties between FD&C food dyes and behavioral issues in children.

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The Food and Drug Administration has not established a causal link between the two.

Since June, several food giants have announced plans to pull the dyes from their products – including Kraft Heinz, General Mills, Nestlé and Tyson Foods.

American shoppers have also grown more health-conscious, helping nudge companies to make ingredient changes.

For years, Walmart’s customer data has shown that more shoppers are looking for simple, natural ingredients, according to Scott Morris, senior vice president for food and private brands at Walmart US.

More than half of Walmart shoppers now flip over food packages to check the ingredients, he told the Journal.

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“The customer is just getting louder and louder on this,” Morris said, adding that some changes in Walmart’s ingredients have been in the works for years.

But this process is not without its challenges. 

Natural alternatives are often unable to replicate the same bright, punchy colors that come from artificial dyes. 

Since natural dyes typically come from food sources, they can also give products a slight off-taste, experts previously told The Post.

These natural dyes are also more difficult to stabilize, causing challenges for manufacturers, and come with added costs.

And in some cases, shoppers don’t respond too enthusiastically to the new products.

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General Mills, for example, found in 2016 that customers didn’t like a new Trix cereal made with all-natural ingredients, including dyes from radishes, purple carrots and turmeric. 

It quickly reintroduced red 40 and yellow 6 into the ingredients list. 

During the product transition, Walmart has struggled to create bright colors in beverages naturally. 

It has considered using a clear liquid and colored packaging instead, according to the Journal.

Baked goods have also emerged as a challenge, since Walmart needs to find natural dyes that work for sprinkles, frosting and sometimes even the cake itself, according to the report.