Americans have just been through a series of announcements about bans on artificial food col-ourings. Now, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced ‘a new approach to No Artificial Colours claims’ by manufacturers on their packaging…
Spirulina Powder: A new, approved, non-petroleum green food colour…
“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration [has taken] additional steps to support the transition of our nation’s food supply from the use of artificial petroleum-based colors to alternatives derived from natural sources,” a new FDA news release advises.
“Companies will now have flexibility to claim products contain ‘no artificial colors’ when the products do not contain petroleum-based colors. In the past, companies were generally only able to make such claims when their products had no added color whatsoever – whether derived from natural sources or otherwise.”
An outgrowth of recent bans
“This is real progress,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said, in the state-ment. “We are making it easier for companies to move away from petroleum-based synthetic colors and adopt safer, naturally derived alternatives. This momentum advances our broader effort to help Americans eat real food and Make America Healthy Again.”
The agency sent a letter to industry providing notice of the FDA’s intent to exercise enforcement discretion related to those voluntary labelling claims.
Latest step in an ongoing process
This work builds on previous HHS and FDA actions to encourage companies to phase out the use of petroleum-based colors in their food products. In April 2025, HHS and the FDA first announced a series of new measures to work with industry to phase out use of all petroleum-based synthetic colors from the nation’s food supply – a significant milestone in the administration’s broader init-iative to Make America Healthy Again.
Ongoing progress in removing petroleum-based colors from the food supply is being publicly tracked by the FDA at Tracking Food Industry Pledges to Remove Petroleum Based Food Dyes.
Meanwhile…
The FDA is testing and approving new ‘natural; colouring options. The release also noted that the agency has also approved beetroot red, a new colour option, and approved the expanded use of spirulina extract, an existing colour additive derived from seaweed.
Look for more such additions to the ‘new’ food colouring pantheon as industry and university labs discover and develop them…
My take
It’s about time the FDA (and other such agencies in other countries) got around to moving forward with meaningful moves to replace petroleum-based food colours.
I’m really curious to see where the new ‘standard’ natural food colours will come from…
~ Maggie J.