General Mills announced on Wednesday that it has removed artificial food dyes from most of the cereal it sells in the United States, marking a victory for the Make America Healthy Again movement’s campaign against the “poisonous” chemicals.
The Trump administration, led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has long pressed food companies to remove synthetic dyes from products voluntarily, leading General Mills last year to commit to starting the process.
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This week, the company provided an update on its progress, revealing that all U.S. cereals, including Lucky Charms and Trix, are now free of artificial color dyes. Such dyes have also been removed from all K-12 school foods, according to General Mills, as well as 90% of the company’s U.S. retail portfolio. The company is aiming to complete the retail transition to natural dyes by the end of 2027.
“As the leader in cereal, General Mills is focused on giving people what they are looking for from the brands they know and love,” Bethany Quam, president of Big G Cereal at General Mills, said in a statement. “This achievement reflects how we are evolving with consumer needs while continuing to offer food that tastes great, delivers quality and provides value.”
The development marks a win for Kennedy, who is the MAHA movement’s top leader in government. Kennedy’s push against artificial food dyes is part of his mission to target foods he believes could be partly responsible for fueling ADHD and cancer rates, as well as the surge in chronic diseases such as obesity and heart disease.
Kennedy initially launched a pressure campaign in March 2025 on large corporations to drop the controversial artificial dyes from their foods. In the months since, a host of corporations have pledged to remove synthetic food dyes from products, including Mars, Hershey, Campbell’s, WK Kellogg Co., Kraft Heinz, Nestle, Smucker’s, Sam’s Club, a host of ice cream manufacturers, and PepsiCo, Gatorade’s parent company.
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The development comes after Kennedy last year outlined a plan with then-Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary that they said would encourage the removal of the petroleum-based dyes from food. The plan was an understanding with the food industry, Makary said, expressing hope that the Trump administration could work with corporations in a “friendly way” to jump-start changes. Food manufacturers have voluntarily consented to phasing out eight synthetic dyes from all U.S. products by the end of 2026, according to the plan.
“Nobody wants to eat petroleum; everybody knows that caused health problems,” Kennedy said at a press event. “And so we can act on that now.”
