Food manufacturers across the United States are running color reformulation cycles right now. Synthetic dyes that have been industry workhorses for decades are being replaced with natural alternatives, and most of the replacement work is being done by spices.
This is not a future trend. It is the current reality of the production floor.
The Regulatory Picture in One Paragraph
In January 2025, the FDA revoked authorization for FD&C Red No. 3, giving food manufacturers until January 15, 2027 to reformulate. In April 2025, the FDA and HHS announced a broader plan to phase out the remaining petroleum-based synthetic dyes — Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Blue 2, and Green 3 — by the end of 2026, and to formally revoke Orange B and Citrus Red 2. The FDA now maintains a public tracker of company reformulation pledges. At the state level, California’s AB 418 bans Red 3 and several other additives statewide effective January 2027, West Virginia passed the first comprehensive state dye law in 2025, and more than twenty other states have pursued similar legislation. The cumulative effect is direct: any manufacturer selling nationally is running a reformulation cycle right now, regardless of how the federal timeline lands.
Who Is Doing the Work
The company commitments are not abstract. They are shipping reformulations.
Kraft Heinz
Kraft Heinz announced in June 2025 that it will not launch any new U.S. products containing FD&C colors and will remove them from its full U.S. portfolio by the end of 2027. The company reports that approximately 90% of its U.S. products are already FD&C-free by net sales. Kraft Mac & Cheese has been colored with paprika and annatto since 2016. The remaining work is concentrated in products where color is central to the brand — Jell-O, Kool-Aid, Crystal Light, MiO, and Jet-Puffed.
General Mills
General Mills committed in the same week to removing certified colors from all U.S. cereals and K-12 school foods by summer 2026, with the full retail portfolio following by the end of 2027. The company reports that 85% of its U.S. retail portfolio is already dye-free. Lucky Charms, Trix, and Gushers are being rebuilt with turmeric, paprika, blueberry concentrate, and other plant-based sources.
Conagra Brands
Conagra Brands is already shipping reformulated products. Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn is now colored with annatto. Vlasic pickles use turmeric in place of Yellow 5. Conagra has committed to making its entire school foodservice portfolio dye-free by the 2026-27 academic year and the rest of its U.S. retail lineup by the end of 2027.
PepsiCo
PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta told analysts in April 2025 that Lay’s and Tostitos would be out of artificial colors by year-end, and that more than 60% of the company’s U.S. food portfolio was already dye-free.
Walmart
Walmart has committed to removing synthetic dyes and 30 other ingredients from its Great Value and bettergoods private-label brands by January 2027. For the contract manufacturers and co-packers producing Walmart private label, that is the deadline that matters.
JM Smucker
JM Smucker began reformulating Hostess snack cakes and fruit pies in early 2025, replacing synthetic reds and yellows with beet juice and paprika extract. Danone North America, Tyson, and TreeHouse Foods have made similar commitments. In-N-Out removed artificial colors from its menu items in May 2025.
The pattern is consistent. Paprika, annatto, turmeric, and beet are doing most of the structural color work.
Why Spice-Based Color Is Carrying the Load
Natural color can come from many sources. However, when the requirement is heat stability, commercial-scale availability, established supply chains, and a documented performance history, spice-based pigments are the most proven category.
Paprika
Paprika delivers oleoresin-backed red and orange and is stable across a wide range of applications. It has been the color base for Kraft Mac & Cheese since 2016.
Annatto
Annatto provides the yellow-to-orange range that has colored cheese, butter, and dairy products for more than a century. It is the current color source for Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn.
Turmeric
Turmeric covers the yellow end of the spectrum with significant versatility. It is the current color source for Vlasic pickles.
Chili Extractives
Chili extractives stack heat and color in a single ingredient, useful when both are part of the finished profile.
These ingredients are not new. What is new is the volume. In fact, thousands of SKUs are being reformulated at the same time, and ingredients that have served in supporting roles for decades are now being asked to carry lead roles at scale.
What Changes on the Production Floor
A color swap rarely ends at the color line of the formula. Natural pigments behave differently from synthetic dyes, and the differences become operational variables.
Stability profiles shift. Paprika oleoresin is sensitive to light and oxidation. Turmeric reacts to pH shifts and can fade under prolonged heat. Annatto performs well in dairy systems but requires careful handling in acidic matrices. None of this is a reason to avoid the ingredient. It is a reason to specify it properly.
Target shade becomes a blend problem. A synthetic Red 40 has a fixed color value. A paprika-based red is the product of origin, capsaicin content, oleoresin strength, carrier system, and processing history. Matching a legacy shade in a natural system almost always means building a blend rather than selecting a single ingredient.
Flavor contribution enters the conversation. Most spice-based colors carry flavor, even at low use rates. In a dairy base or a clean-flavor beverage, this means selecting cuts and carriers that minimize flavor carry while holding the color target.
Processing affects finished performance. Particle size, solubility, dispersibility, and extractive strength all change how a spice pigment performs in the matrix. A coarse ground paprika and a standardized paprika oleoresin are not interchangeable, even when the color value on paper looks similar. Specifying the wrong one results in shade drift across lots.
Why Processing Control Matters
When the target color is coming from a spice, the finished product’s consistency is shaped long before the ingredient reaches the plant. Where was the paprika grown, and how was the ASTA color value verified? Was the annatto seed cleaned and handled to control moisture and oxidation? Is the turmeric lot-traced back to origin, and does the curcumin content match the spec? How was the material milled, and does the particle size distribution match the application?
These questions rarely came up when the color source was a synthetic dye. They come up constantly when the color source is a spice. They are the questions that determine whether a reformulated product holds its shade through shelf life or drifts across production runs.
At Pacific Spice Company, we process spices in our SQF-certified facility in Commerce, California, with cleaning, milling, blending, and quality verification under the same roof. For natural color applications, that proximity supports faster iteration and tighter control. The team specifying a paprika lot can work directly with the team running it through the mill, and the team building the blend can verify how the finished color performs before it leaves the facility.
The Work Ahead
The move off synthetic dyes is a reformulation cycle that touches sourcing, specification, processing, packaging, and quality systems at the same time. As a result, the manufacturers who are getting ahead of it are treating natural color as a technical discipline — specifying with the same rigor they would bring to any other critical ingredient, and working with processing partners who can trace the color from origin to finished blend.
If you want to reduce reformulation risk, hold your color targets across production runs, and build a natural color system that performs at scale, start by looking upstream at how your spices are sourced and processed.
If you are rebuilding a color system and want to talk through paprika, annatto, turmeric, or a custom natural color blend for your application, contact our team. Our R&D lab and processing floor are set up for exactly this conversation.
