FDA Loosens 'No Artificial Colors' Labeling, Expands Natural Dyes List

The Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday that food makers may now label products as containing 'no artificial colors' so long as any added coloring is naturally derived and not petroleum-based, a shift from prior policy that generally required no added color at all. The agency also expanded its list of approved naturally sourced color additives, adding beetroot red and broadening permitted uses of spirulina extract, bringing to six the number of new natural color options cleared under the Trump administration. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary framed the move as part of a Make America Healthy Again campaign to phase out synthetic petroleum-based dyes—building on a January 2025 ban of Red 3, a red dye linked to cancer, that must be removed from foods by 2027 and most drugs by 2028. Officials say the change is meant to remove a labeling 'hindrance' that treated plant-based colors as 'artificial,' making it easier for companies to reformulate and clearly market products as free of petrochemical dyes while giving consumers more meaningful information about what's in their food.