The Food and Drug Administration has come under fire for a recent move that relaxes a key goal of the “Make America Healthy Again” movement: zero artificial food dyes.
The FDA announced in early February that food companies would be able to label their products as containing “no artificial colors” as long as they don’t use petroleum-based dyes. Previously, companies could only include that label if they didn’t use artificial food dyes at all.
While Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. touted the change as “real progress” by accelerating the transition to naturally-based dyes, some, including in the MAHA camp, are expressing concern about the FDA’s move.
Kelly Ryerson, a MAHA activist in the agricultural space, told the Guardian that while the labeling change is “enormous,” it could cause confusion among consumers looking for zero additives, which can still be found in the natural dyes.
“I would like to see these things banned permanently,” Ryerson said.
Thomas Galligan, who studies food additives at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, was more critical of it, suggesting the rollback of the labeling requirement would only deceive consumers.
“It’s frustrating, especially when the rhetoric suggests they are solving the problem, but in practice they’re just letting industry do whatever they want,” Galligan added.
The Environmental Working Group, an activist group that shares similar concerns about food additives as MAHA, also blasted the FDA’s decision as “another broken promise” by the Trump administration.
“They pledged outright bans on dangerous food chemical additives to their Make America Healthy Again base,” EWG co-founder Ken Cook said. “Instead, states are doing the hard work to protect families, while Kennedy settles for handshake deals with big food and chemical companies – agreements with no real accountability and no guarantee they’ll be honored.”
Groups closely aligned with the MAHA movement have been pressing the Trump administration for federal regulation on food ingredients, rejecting separate “patchwork” efforts from states.
Those include the Americans for Ingredient Transparency, a coalition formed last year.
“Americans are sending a clear message: We want a healthier nation. But right now, ingredient and labeling rules can look different in every state,” an ad from the group said in November. “This patchwork of state laws creates confusion for consumers, and it limits our choices. It drives up our costs at the grocery store and hurts our small businesses. It’s time to fix the patchwork. It’s time to pass a national uniform standard.”
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The FDA has been pitching naturally-based dyes as alternatives for over a year, as it cracks down on artificial dyes to address what Kennedy has called the chronic disease epidemic in the United States. Those include colors derived from beet juice, beet powder, algae, and butterfly pea flower.
The agency has simultaneously secured numerous agreements with food companies to remove artificial dyes in their products, including Campbell’s, General Mills, Mars, and Kraft Heinz, among others.
