The race to replace artificial colours: Overview
- Consumer demand and government regulations are accelerating adoption of natural colours
- Nestlé, Mars and other major manufacturers are reformulating products to remove artificial colours
- Blue remains the hardest synthetic dyes to replace due to performance limitations
- New ingredients and technologies are improving natural colour stability
- Artificial and natural colours will likely coexist during transition
From vibrant yellows to striking reds, colour is one of food and beverage’s most powerful tools to attract consumers.
It grabs attention, shapes expectation and builds emotional connection.
Yet as demand for natural ingredients gathers pace, brands are facing pressure to recreate these vibrant hues without artificial additives.
So, how do manufacturers replace synthetic dyes without sacrificing the visual appeal shoppers expect? As many are discovering, the challenge is more complex than a simple ingredient swap. Welcome to the race to replace.
Making the switch
Some of the world’s biggest food and beverage brands are already reformulating products to remove artificial colours, with the world’s biggest CPG setting a major example.
Nestlé has emerged as a trailblazer in the natural-colour space, announcing plans to remove artificial colours from its entire global portfolio by the end of 2026. The multinational has already completed the transition across its US range, but says achieving the same results globally has required extensive research to identify natural alternatives capable of matching the performance and shelf life of synthetic dyes.
Mars, Inc., meanwhile, has spent years exploring natural alternatives. While the company announced plans to remove artificial colours from its human food portfolio in 2016, it later adopted a more targeted approach after finding consumer expectations differed significantly across markets and product categories. Today, Mars continues to use natural colours across its Food & Nutrition brands and has begun introducing naturally coloured versions of products including M&M’s, Skittles and Starburst.
Similarly, Kraft Heinz has removed artificial colours from a range of products including Kraft Mac & Cheese, General Mills has committed to removing artificial colours and flavours from products including cereals, PepsiCo is reformulating selected brands to offer versions without artificial colours, and Ferrara Candy Company is investing in reformulation programmes to reduce its reliance on artificial colours.
These efforts highlight the momentum behind the shift to natural colours, as well as the complexity of the transition.
Manufacturers must ensure natural colours can deliver the right shade, remain stable throughout processing and storage, and meet consumer expectations around appearance and taste.
And the challenge becomes even greater in categories such as confectionery, where the bright, highly saturated colours long associated with products like sweets and gummies can be particularly difficult to replicate using natural ingredients.
The natural challenge
The biggest challenge is finding natural alternatives that can match the performance of synthetic dyes, explains Dr Brendan Niemira, chief science and technology officer at the Institute of Food Technologists.
Blue, in particular, remains one of the toughest colours to crack, with natural sources often producing softer aqua or teal shades rather than the bright, vivid hues consumers are used to.
Natural colours can also be more sensitive to heat, light, oxygen and changes in pH, making them harder to use consistently across different products and manufacturing processes.
And, even if the technical hurdles can be overcome, supply presents another obstacle. Natural colours are typically less concentrated than synthetic alternatives, meaning larger volumes of raw materials are needed to achieve the same visual impact.
Cost remains another challenge, with natural colours often carrying a premium compared with synthetic alternatives while requiring higher usage rates.
As more brands make the switch, production of key colour sources will need to expand significantly to keep pace with demand.
The good news, says Dr Niemira, is that innovation is accelerating. Researchers are working to improve the “stability, intensity and versatility” of natural colours, while also exploring new sources that could expand the possibilities available to manufacturers.
Natural colour innovation
The search for brighter, more stable natural colours is driving innovation across both ingredients and processing technologies.
Manufacturers are turning to sources such as spirulina, butterfly pea flower, red beet, anthocyanins, turmeric, annatto and paprika to replace synthetic dyes. At the same time, researchers are exploring new pigment sources, including algae, microorganisms and precision-fermented ingredients, that could offer improved colour performance and scalability.
Technology is also playing a key role. Improved extraction techniques, encapsulation technologies and customised colour blends are helping natural pigments better withstand heat, light, oxygen exposure and pH changes.
These advances could enable natural colours to deliver the consistency and shelf life manufacturers have historically relied on synthetic dyes to provide.
As these ingredients become more sophisticated, they’re expected to narrow the performance gap with synthetic dyes.
At the same time, consumer expectations may begin to evolve. Rather than viewing bright, highly saturated colours as the benchmark, shoppers increasingly focused on clean labels and natural ingredients may become more accepting of colours that look closer to those found in nature.
Consumers may even come to see softer and less intense shades as a marker of authenticity, healthfulness and transparency rather than a compromise.
The result could be a very different food and beverage landscape over the next decade.
Artificial colours are unlikely to disappear overnight, but their dominance is expected to decline as natural alternatives become brighter, more stable and easier to use.
In the meantime, manufacturers are likely to rely on a combination of natural and artificial colours as they balance performance, cost and consumer expectations.
