General Mills on June 17 announced plans to remove certified colors from all its U.S. cereals and all K-12 school foods by summer 2026. Additionally, the company will work to remove certified colors from its full U.S. retail portfolio by the end of 2027.

The General Mills announcement came on the same day that The Kraft Heinz Company announced it will not launch any new products in the United States with Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) colors, effective immediately. 

Kraft Heinz also announced that it will remove the remaining FD&C Act colors from its U.S. product portfolio before the end of 2027. 

Companies such as Tyson Foods and Mars have announced similar moves as the Trump Administration prioritizes phasing out synthetic dyes from the U.S. food supply and scrutinizes food additives generally.

“This change impacts only a small portion of General Mills’ K-12 school portfolio, as nearly all its school offerings today are made without certified colors,” General Mills said in a statement. “Similarly, 85 percent of General Mills’ full U.S. retail portfolio is currently made without certified colors.”

“Across the long arc of our history, General Mills has moved quickly to meet evolving consumer needs, and reformulating our product portfolio to remove certified colors is yet another example,” said Jeff Harmening, chairman and CEO, General Mills. 

“For decades, General Mills has proven its reformulation capabilities,” the company noted, citing “industry-leading” sugar-reduction work across General Mills’ K-12 school portfolio, doubling vitamin D in General Mills’ cereals in 2023 to help close nutritional gaps, and reducing sodium by 20 percent across key product categories since 2019.

As reported by Food Safety Magazine, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held a press conference in April announcing their intent to phase out the use of petroleum-based synthetic dyes from the nation’s food supply. The agencies described the action as a “major step forward” in the “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) agenda, popularized by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and adopted by the Trump Administration.