By Brian Bienkowski Kraft Heinz, the food giant behind dozens of popular brands including Oscar Mayer, Jell-O, Velveeta and Kool-Aid, will not launch any new foods with synthetic dyes and will remove the dyes from its current products by the end of 2027, the company said Tuesday.
In reality, synthetic dyes are likely nowhere near as much of a health risk as the sugars and salts in these products anyway. But anything that can be done to incrementally improve the healthiness of product, it’s still progress. And at least people can read the label and make informed decisions about the nutritional value of the salt, fat, sugar, etc. in their food. But the actual risks of other ingredients, like dyes, preservatives, and artificial sweeteners, are far less apparent to the typical shopper, even if they are largely minimal in risks, if the actual risks are even known in the first place, that is.