On the heels of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announcing their intent to phase out the use of petroleum-based synthetic dyes from the nation’s food supply, Tyson Foods says it has been "proactively reformulating" food products containing petroleum-based synthetic dyes and plans to finish work to eliminate them from its production process by the end of May.

The comments came from Tyson Foods CEO Donnie King during an earnings conference call on Monday.

“As a recognized leader in protein, none of the products Tyson Foods offers through our school nutrition programs include petroleum-based synthetic dyes as ingredients,” King said during the conference call. “Today, the vast majority of our retail branded Tyson products, including our Tyson Dino Nuggets, Tyson Chicken Nuggets, Tyson Chicken Bites, and Jimmy Dean Maple Griddle Cakes, do not contain any of these types of dyes, and we have been proactively reformulating those few products that do.”

King added, “We expect that our work to eliminate use of petroleum-based synthetic dyes in production will be completed by the end of May, much sooner than the timeline provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.”

As reported by Food Safety Magazine, HHS and FDA held a press conference on April 22 announcing their intent to phase out the use of petroleum-based synthetic dyes from the nation’s food supply. That story can be found here.