Bluegrass Ingredients On-site Hiring Event | March 19 | Glasgow, KY.
Food manufacturers of all shapes and sizes continue to navigate the best path forward following the Food & Drug Administration’s increased focus on eliminating synthetic food dyes from products.
The FDA has instituted a ban on FD&C Red No. 3, effective Jan. 15, 2027. At the same time, it’s requesting that the industry eliminate six popular synthetic food dyes — D&C Green No. 3, FD&C Red No. 40, FD&C Yellow No. 5, FD&C Yellow No. 6, FD&C Blue No. 1, and FD&C Blue No. 2 — from the food supply by the end of next year.
This increased federal focus on artificial coloring agents and the media coverage it’s garnered is prompting other restrictions as well as a shift in consumer sentiment around dyes and other ingredient entries.
Food manufacturers must act now to stay ahead of shifting regulations and consumer preferences. But replacing artificial coloring agents with natural ones is rarely – if ever – a one-to-one swap. These reformulations often come with significant R&D efforts, logistics complication and other costs.
Bluegrass Ingredients has long recognized the need for natural and clean label solutions, and we’ve amplified our efforts in light of new industry realities. Since April 2025, we have already converted 20% of our artificially colored formulations in the dairy portfolio to natural alternatives. This gives us a marked head start in partnering with customers to provide turnkey natural color ingredient solutions as well as transitioning specific formulations and applications to eliminate artificial dyes.
As companies navigate a shift away from synthetic dyes, here’s a closer look at three key considerations and best practices in approaching them.
Natural dyes are derived from agricultural sources, creating uncertainty and volatility that aren’t typically present in synthetic coloring agents. There’s a seasonality to production, and elements like weather, labor issues and more can significantly impact yield, quality and other considerations.
Natural dyes are also more likely to have a more limited shelf life than their artificial counterparts as well as other supply chain complications.
These logistics issues can create significant increases in cost – often for a less predictable product that requires greater complexity in processing.
The same factors that can limit the shelf life of natural dyes can create additional challenges in formulations and stability. In replacing artificial color, natural color vibrancy can be impacted by pH, temperature, light exposure and acidity.
Coloring can also be a challenge, both in terms of matching the color of products previously made with artificial dyes and in navigating batch-to-batch consistency.
Finally, natural ingredients can impact the flavor and texture of applications, creating additional development challenges.
More and more consumers are thinking about the colors in the foods they eat. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll welcome changes to the products they know and love with open arms. That extends to the ingredient list. For example: turmeric is a natural ingredient that can add an orange or yellow hue to a product. But if consumers see turmeric on an ingredient list, they may assume it will taste like turmeric or have other reservations before buying.
Case in point: Several years ago, General Mills reformulated its Trix cereal using radishes, purple carrots and turmeric as coloring agents. In what’s now a well-known cautionary tale among food manufacturers, not all consumers were happy with the change. Some went so far as to call the muted, natural colors “depressing.” General Mills went back to the original formulation (though it kept the naturally colored version on shelves as well, which today appears to have been a good decision!).
To better showcase just how ingrained coloring is in American food consumption, consider cheese. In its natural state, all cheese is white or a creamy yellow. Yet there are many iconic foods today that consumers associate with orange cheese. Mac n cheese, burgers, grilled cheese, even just a block of orange cheddar are all dyed.
The reality is, ingredients and their characteristics fall out of favor all the time. Sometimes, it’s regulatory changes, other times it’s shifting consumer sentiment. Or, in the case of natural colors, it’s a combination of the two. Bluegrass Ingredients’ collaborative approach gives our customers the benefit of a wide network of experts and partners, including dedicated AI resources, to help navigate ingredient changes and formulation updates.
We partner with customers every day to develop and refine formulations that satisfy consumer cravings and the latest industry requirements. We utilize a dedicated approach to these kind of projects rooted in our values and our commitment to collaboration and advancing our customers’ flavor and business goals. The process begins by aligning on the trend or opportunity – in this case the shift toward natural colors. From there, we work in lockstep with the manufacturer to develop the business case and process for bringing the new ingredient or innovation to life.
