Ice cream, other foods getting makeover as part of MAHA
'President Donald J. Trump took office promising to confront the chronic health crisis plaguing Americans — and six months later, he is delivering on that promise by removing harmful chemicals from our food supply," per a White House news release Monday.
The effort is in line with findings of U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy's 'Make Americans Healthy Again' effort. In a report the department recently issued, chemical exposures and food dyes were called out as harmful.
As Deseret News noted, the report on children's health focused on four things: an unhealthy diet — including artificial ingredients and dyes — exposure to environmental chemicals, too little activity and overprescription of medications.
The White House list of companies that manufacture food and promise to make it healthier includes:
Steak 'n Shake replaced its buttery blend with 100% all natural beef tallow, per QSR Magazine.
In-N-Out told Good Morning America that it is making the same transition to 100% beef tallow and said it will remove artificial food dyes and artificial flavors from its menu items.
McCormick said it will drop certain food dyes. McCormick CEO Brendan Foley told analysts that 'we are seeing a tick-up in reformulation activity' regarding food dyes and sodium, the latter of which he added they've always been working on, per Fox Business.
PepsiCo is going to reformulate some of its products, including Tostitos and Lay's chips by the end of the year to remove artificial ingredients. Ramon Laguarta, company chair and CEO, told Food Business News in April that 60% of the company's portfolio already didn't have artificial colors.
Tyson Foods has been 'proactively reformulating' products that contain petroleum-based artificial dyes, per Reuters. The company noted that most of its products don't contain those dyes.
Mars Wrigley removed titanium dioxide from Skittles. Fox News reported it's typically used 'to make food look whiter and opaque.'
Sam's Club has said it is 96% of the way to the goal of removing artificial ingredients from its private brand, Member's Mark. The warehouse store is calling the effort 'made without,' per a release from Walmart, Sam's Club's parent company. It said that 'the 'Made Without' list includes over 40 distinct ingredients, such as artificial colors, aspartame and high-fructose corn syrup, that were identified based on a combination of member feedback, nutritional guidance and industry trends.'
Kraft-Heinz is giving its products a no-artificial-dyes makeover in the U.S., as Deseret News earlier reported.
General Mills is taking artificial dyes from its cereals and all foods sold in K-12 schools, as the Associated Press reported.
Nestlé USA said most of its portfolio doesn't have synthetic colors, but it's reformulating products that do to eliminate them by the middle of next year.
'Conagra Foods announced it will remove certain color additives from its frozen products, no longer offer products with artificial dyes in K-12 schools and stop using artificial dyes in the manufacturing of its products," per the White House.
JM Smucker is getting rid of its synthetic colors from consumer food products, according to FoodDive and Hershey is doing the same, per Bloomberg.
The Consumer Brands Association said it is urging its food and beverage companies to stop using the certified Food, Drug and Cosmetic colors from products served in schools by fall 2026.
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