Whopper of the Week: Food Dyes: RFK Jr. Talks Big, Does Little

THIS WEEK'S WHOPPER: 

Food Dyes: RFK Jr. talks big, does little

SUMMARY:
 

Last week, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared before congressional committees to defend the president’s health budget. During the hearings, Kennedy steered away from criticizing vaccines and focused on the more popular elements of his Make America Health Again platform, like healthy eating and food safety. Regulating food dyes is a popular bipartisan issue according to a December poll from Fabrizio-Ward, which convinced the White House to refocus its MAHA platform away from vaccines and toward food. Despite his promises, Kennedy's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not yet removed petroleum based synthetic dyes from the market.

In April 2025, Kennedy promised to phase out all petroleum-based synthetic dyes from the nation’s food supply in order to restore “gold-standard science” and “earn back the public’s trust.”  Since then he has made little headway and has walked back tough talk about bans on dyes in favor of voluntary commitments from the food industry while deregulating food labeling to broaden the products that can claim to contain “no artificial colors.” Faced with industry opposition, Kennedy is proving weak.

WHY IS THIS A WHOPPER?

Last spring Secretary Kennedy and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner,  Marty Makary announced a plan to eliminate petroleum-based synthetic dyes from the U.S. food supply. The FDA authorizes the use of over 40 food color additives, including nine synthetic dyes. Kennedy declared that “four years from now, we are going to have most of these [synthetic dyes] off the market, or you will know about them when you go to the grocery store.” Kennedy said two synthetic dyes, Citrus Red No. 2 and Orange B, rarely used in the food industry anymore, would have their authorization revoked. A year later, however, the FDA has still not formally banned their use. In contrast, the FDA revoked authorization for Red Dye No. 3 in the last days of President Biden’s administration in January 2025. 

Kennedy promised six other synthetic dyes would be eliminated from the food supply in cooperation with industry by 2027. Kraft Heinz and General Mills announced they would take steps toward removing artificial dyes. Kraft Heinz said “it will no longer roll out new products with the dyes” but specified that it has been on “a journey” since 2016 to reduce food coloring. General Mills would remove the dyes from cereals and foods served in K-12 schools. These are all voluntary, and some companies wouldn’t give  a timeline – making it unlikely synthetic dyes will be “eliminated” or even carry warning labels by 2027. Last week in his remarks to Congress, Kennedy failed to mention any further progress toward this goal.

In February 2026, Kennedy angered the MAHA base by further retreating from his pledge to ban dyes from foods. Synthetic dyes are made from chemicals, including petro-chemicals; other dyes are extracted from plants or animals. The FDA announced that companies "now have flexibility to claim products contain ‘no artificial colors’ when the products do not contain petroleum-based dyes. 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." Over the last year, the FDA has actually expanded the number of dyes that can be used in food, in order to, according to Kennedy “make the transition to healthier options as seamless as possible.” Some of these new dyes are derived from plants or algae, others are chemically synthesized. 

WHY IT MATTERS?

Kennedy has focused on the fact that other countries regulate food additives more strictly than the United States. In Canada and in Europe synthetic colors are are required to carry warning labels, so manufacturers often use natural substitutes. But all dyes approved by the FDA are deemed safe and there is little data to support Kennedy’s claim that on the whole “natural” food dyes are healthier than synthetic ones. 

In contrast to his words, Kennedy’s actions have shown he is willing to deregulate the food industry and allow more products to be considered natural rather than to label or ban synthetic dyes. His claims of voluntary cooperation from industry are a fig leaf that covers the fact his approach to the food and agricultural sector is classically conservative and pro-industry. Kennedy’s  policies do not differ in any meaningful way from past Republican administrations. Presidents Obama and Biden also tried but failed to make food labeling more informative for the public. 

Kennedy is discovering, like past Democratic administrations have, that food labeling and regulation always face strong industry opposition. This is a bad omen for Kennedy’s other signature food initiatives, such as the labeling of ultra-processed foods or the reform of Generally Recognized as Safe regulations for food additives. Kennedy promises strong action but doesn’t deliver.

Contributors to this post are:  Benedicte Callan, Ph.D., Bruce Mirken, Aurora Horstkamp, M.D., Kathylynn Saboda, M.S.