4-15-2025 4:05am

HUNT VALLEY'S McCORMICK

Jeff Barto Editor

McCormick working with industry to reformulate more products as efforts to ban synthetic food dyes intensifies

CEO Brendan Foley noted “a tick-up” in activity as RFK Jr. and the Trump administration increase pressure on food manufacturers to improve the healthiness of their offerings.

McCormick & Co. is working with restaurants and food manufacturers to reformulate products as efforts to ban synthetic dyes in food gain momentum, the ingredient and flavorings giant’s CEO told analysts.

The move to remove artificial food colors has been simmering for years, but the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services has brought renewed attention to the effort.

“We are seeing a tick-up in reformulation activity and that would align with what you’re seeing and being written out in the news media regarding what we’re hearing from the new administration,” said Brendan Foley, McCormick’s CEO.

McCormick’s portfolio of spices, baking ingredients and other offerings sold to consumers don’t contain a lot of food dyes, Foley said.

Kennedy has called on Kraft Heinz, General Mills and other food companies to remove artificial dyes before the end of his term, Bloomberg reported earlier this month. “Kennedy expects ‘real and transformative’ change by ‘getting the worst ingredients out’ of food,” according to an email sent by the Consumer Brands Association to its members that was viewed by the news agency.

West Virginia signed into law a bill on Monday that restricted seven artificial dyes from food products sold in the state. Several other states have introduced bills aimed at food additives, including artificial colors, according to the Environmental Working Group.

Last year, the FDA announced it was banning Red No. 3, an artificial coloring popular in candy, cereal, cakes and other foods that has been linked in high doses to cancer in rats.

Consumer groups and health advocates have pushed for decades to remove synthetic colors from food products, noting that they have no taste or nutritional value and only serve to make unhealthy products more attractive, especially to kids. Some have expressed concern that the color additives also can lead to cancer or cause children to be hyperactive.

The FDA, which approves the dyes in food, is monitoring the additives but hasn’t established a link between their use and health issues.