WK Kellogg said Thursday that it will remove artificial colors from all its cereals by the end of this year.
The change comes a year ahead of schedule. Kellogg said last August that it would remove synthetic dyes from its cereals by the end of 2027.
But the company said Thursday it has identified fruit- and vegetable-based juices that will give cereals like Froot Loops and Apple Jacks their distinctive colors. The Battle Creek, Michigan-based company said it has also invested in equipment that will allow it to transition to natural colors.
That stuff is still terrible for you if you eat it regularly, with or without artificial coloring.
Categorically, yes, but that doesn’t change the US needing to get these dyes out of its foods yesterday. Within the health catastrophe Trump, RFK Jr., their followers, etc. are creating, I’ll gladly take and ride this one point we can apparently all agree on that these dyes serve no good purpose and need to go.
Edit: And I wouldn’t even stipulate “if you eat it regularly”. It’s enriched with a token amount of Vitamins and minerals of course, but that’s practically a participation trophy for cereals (seriously, the micronutrient profile is fucking pathetic); everything else about it is utter trash, and it’s terrible for you from the jump.
Edit 2: That said, the comment below about cancer link is misinformation in that the science currently does not support said link.
Removing dyes from overly sugary cereals is rearranging deckchairs on the titanic. Its completely missing the point of what makes these foods bad for you.
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Do you have a source for this? As someone with a young child, I’ve gone out of my way to research and avoid artificial dyes, and cancer literally never showed on my radar
They’re wrong. Please see my comment. There are potential other problems with dyes (the main one that’s more concerning is risk of ADHD), but their statement about cancer is horseshit – not because it’s impossible they cause cancer but because “directly linked and have been for years” is not supported by science in 2026.
Good for you for looking out for your kid. ❤️
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Yes, because it’s a single study on rats from the 1990s. When we’re talking about the health effects in humans and you show up talking about a “direct link to cancer”, any reasonable reader – because again, “humans aren’t rats” – would believe you’re talking about a direct link to cancer in humans.
“Alcohol has been directly linked to literally being dissolved alive.”
“Really?”
“Well in bacteria, yes.”
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Gonna need a research paper cite on that one.
What they weren’t telling you is that it’s one study from the 1990s in rats, then in another comment they just throw in “granted it’s in rats” like that doesn’t make all the difference in the world.
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Genuine question: Is it directly linked to cancer to a serious degree or in the same way that everything is technically linked to cancer?
Just to put into perspective the sun is considered a class 1 carcinogen.
Yes, this is why it can cause skin cancer and that sunscreen and sunhats exists.
One of these things is needed for life and the other is shit they add to food to make it look pretty.
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This is misinformation. The evidence is so tenuous that the link may as well not exist. Other problems perhaps, but not this one – at least it’s certainly not well-studied enough to go throwing around “directly linked to cancer and have been for years.”
Please have some level of compunction about throwing serious medical claims around.
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You know, generally it’s implied you mean “in humans” when we’re talking about… the health effects in humans.
“People aren’t rats”, to quote a “no-fucking-shit” passage from the article that I hope is obvious to you too.
I won’t begrudge someone who eats a bowl of cereal occasionally as a treat any more than I would someone who has an occasional bowl of ice cream. Both are OK in moderation but not great if you’re eating it everyday. And yes, I’ll take an improvement vs doing nothing, but no one should be fooling themselves that this change makes sugary cereals ok for daily consumption.
Now we just need everyone to stop putting paprika into fucking everything for color (I’m allergic, not to color but paprika)
Weird downboats but okay, you would be very surprised with how much paprika is in things
Does that mean you’re allergic to peppers? Isn’t paprike just dried and powdered red pepper?
You would think so but I don’t have the same reaction
Indeed. It is like eating a bowl of candy for breakfast.
Uhh it’s been artificial dye free in Canada for a long time, they’re dragging their feet still.
They have enough stock on hand to make enough until the end of the year. As true libertarians, they will not improve their product unless they believe that it will make them more money.
Libertarian police
I was shooting heroin and reading “The Fountainhead” in the front seat of my privately owned police cruiser when a call came in. I put a quarter in the radio to activate it. It was the chief.
“Bad news, detective. We got a situation.”
“What? Is the mayor trying to ban trans fats again?”
“Worse. Somebody just stole four hundred and forty-seven million dollars’ worth of bitcoins.”
The heroin needle practically fell out of my arm. “What kind of monster would do something like that? Bitcoins are the ultimate currency: virtual, anonymous, stateless. They represent true economic freedom, not subject to arbitrary manipulation by any government. Do we have any leads?”
“Not yet. But mark my words: we’re going to figure out who did this and we’re going to take them down … provided someone pays us a fair market rate to do so.”
“Easy, chief,” I said. “Any rate the market offers is, by definition, fair.”
He laughed. “That’s why you’re the best I got, Lisowski. Now you get out there and find those bitcoins.”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’m on it.”
I put a quarter in the siren. Ten minutes later, I was on the scene. It was a normal office building, strangled on all sides by public sidewalks. I hopped over them and went inside.
“Home Depot™ Presents the Police!®” I said, flashing my badge and my gun and a small picture of Ron Paul. “Nobody move unless you want to!” They didn’t.
“Now, which one of you punks is going to pay me to investigate this crime?” No one spoke up.
“Come on,” I said. “Don’t you all understand that the protection of private property is the foundation of all personal liberty?”
It didn’t seem like they did.
“Seriously, guys. Without a strong economic motivator, I’m just going to stand here and not solve this case. Cash is fine, but I prefer being paid in gold bullion or autographed Penn Jillette posters.”
Nothing. These people were stonewalling me. It almost seemed like they didn’t care that a fortune in computer money invented to buy drugs was missing.
I figured I could wait them out. I lit several cigarettes indoors. A pregnant lady coughed, and I told her that secondhand smoke is a myth. Just then, a man in glasses made a break for it.
“Subway™ Eat Fresh and Freeze, Scumbag!®” I yelled.
Too late. He was already out the front door. I went after him.
“Stop right there!” I yelled as I ran. He was faster than me because I always try to avoid stepping on public sidewalks. Our country needs a private-sidewalk voucher system, but, thanks to the incestuous interplay between our corrupt federal government and the public-sidewalk lobby, it will never happen.
I was losing him. “Listen, I’ll pay you to stop!” I yelled. “What would you consider an appropriate price point for stopping? I’ll offer you a thirteenth of an ounce of gold and a gently worn ‘Bob Barr ‘08’ extra-large long-sleeved men’s T-shirt!”
He turned. In his hand was a revolver that the Constitution said he had every right to own. He fired at me and missed. I pulled my own gun, put a quarter in it, and fired back. The bullet lodged in a U.S.P.S. mailbox less than a foot from his head. I shot the mailbox again, on purpose.
“All right, all right!” the man yelled, throwing down his weapon. “I give up, cop! I confess: I took the bitcoins.”
“Why’d you do it?” I asked, as I slapped a pair of Oikos™ Greek Yogurt Presents Handcuffs® on the guy.
“Because I was afraid.”
“Afraid?”
“Afraid of an economic future free from the pernicious meddling of central bankers,” he said. “I’m a central banker.”
I wanted to coldcock the guy. Years ago, a central banker killed my partner. Instead, I shook my head.
“Let this be a message to all your central-banker friends out on the street,” I said. “No matter how many bitcoins you steal, you’ll never take away the dream of an open society based on the principles of personal and economic freedom.”
He nodded, because he knew I was right. Then he swiped his credit card to pay me.
We have artificial-free Froot Loops up here in Canada. Compared to US Froot Loops, they don’t look neon but actually taste better since they’re colored with natural dyes.
Here’s a crazy idea: we don’t need cereal with crazy colours. “Froot Loops” could be the colour of grains and no one would suffer because of it.
So are you one of those people who think the blue M&Ms taste better? It’s okay, you can tell us.
I think you can do white with natural lead.
Ah so that’s what’s in M&Ms
And corn syrup… LOTS of corn syrup (check the shell ingredients if you don’t believe me)
Cadmium yellow, checking in.
… red maybe?
Don’t forget arsenic for the green.
Maybe WK Kellogg could add some real nutrition to their product while they are making this big change.
They could just stop putting it in right now, and then “transition to natural colors” when it happens.
They could even come up with some stupid fiction about why it was happening--the parrot has sensitive eyes so they had to turn off the color, and then they learn that a little color is okay. Or a bad guy turned off the color in froot loops land, and the parrot had to defeat the bad guy and turn it back on, but they can’t turn it up too high, or the bad guy will return.
Do they even have their own marketing department to do that with anymore? I would be surprised to find out that wasn’t outsourced like 25-30 years ago.
- in the US. Put the nation in the title.
Beetle carapaces are 100% natural.
Which is what they use for certain colors …
Cost savings or actual health benefits?
What was I thinking… cost cutting or course.
Marketing. The artificial dyes they use are the least of their cereals’ problems, and there’s no reason to believe natural dyes will be any better for the health than the artificial ones. And if natural dyes were cheaper they would have been used long ago.
At least it’s asbestos free
…so far
fruit- and vegetable-based juices
I assume this is some marketing speak for puppies and orphans.
I’ve been getting Trader Joe’s fruitie cuties and they taste a bit like Froot Loops, however they use vegetable juices to get the color. They’re still not super bold colors, but they look more natural. I’m curious if that’s what will happen to Kellogg’s cereal colors.
…add one to the pile of “why tf wasn’t this done like 20 years ago”.
Baby steps I guess, but that baby is currently staggering its way through a forest fire in the context of the rest of current events, so it’s kinda hard to give a shit about cereal right now.
That shit is ao terrible for you, the colours aren’t even the main problem. And somehow it’s for children.
Yeah I know, but like… our planet is on fire, the Nazis are back, we (US) have a president who’s at war with our citizens and economy, we have the Horseman Pestilence acting as Health Secretary… the list goes on and on.
Cereal took a step in the right direction. Woo. 🎉
It’s still really bad for you. Woo. 🎉
I know not all things need to be relative, just where my brain is at right now.
The US isn’t the world!
