PepsiCo is facing a significant challenge: Maintaining the vibrant look of products like Gatorade and Cheetos while eliminating the artificial dyes that US consumers are increasingly avoiding. In April, the company, which also produces Doritos, Cap'n Crunch cereal, Funyuns, and Mountain Dew, announced it would speed up its plan to use natural colours in its food and beverages.
Currently, about 40% of its US products contain synthetic dyes. Just as it took decades for artificial colours to become commonplace in PepsiCo's lineup, phasing them out is expected to be a multi-year process.
The company is actively researching new ingredients, evaluating consumer reactions, and awaiting US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for natural alternatives.
Experimenting With Spices To Colour Cheetos
Tostitos and Lay's will be the first PepsiCo brands to make the shift, with naturally dyed tortilla and potato chips expected on store shelves later this year and naturally dyed dips due to be on sale early next year. Most of the chips, dips and salsas in the two lines already are naturally colored, but there were some exceptions.
The reddish-brown tint of Tostitos Salsa Verde, for example, came from four synthetic colours: Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Red 40 and Blue 1. Coleman said the company is switching to carob powder, which gives the chips a similar colour, but needed to tweak the recipe to ensure the addition of the cocoa alternative wouldn't affect the taste.
In its Frito-Lay food labs and test kitchens in Plano, Texas, PepsiCo is experimenting with ingredients like paprika and turmeric to mimic the bright reds and oranges in products like Flamin' Hot Cheetos, as reported by news agency AP. The company is looking at purple sweet potatoes and various types of carrots to colour drinks like Mountain Dew and Cherry 7Up, AP added.
Getting the hue right is critical, since many consumers know products like Gatorade by their colour and not necessarily their name, Damien Browne, the vice president of research and development for PepsiCo's beverage division based in Valhalla, New York told news agency AP.
Consumer Demand Goes From A Whisper To A Roar
When the Pepsi-Cola Company was founded in 1902, the absence of artificial dyes was a point of pride. The company marketed Pepsi as “The Original Pure Food Drink” to differentiate the cola from rivals that used lead, arsenic and other toxins as food colourants before the US banned them in 1906.
But synthetic dyes eventually won over food companies. They were vibrant, consistent and cheaper than natural colours. They are also rigorously tested by the FDA.
Still, PepsiCo said it started seeing a small segment of shoppers asking for products without artificial colours or flavours more than two decades ago. In 2002, it launched its Simply line of chips, which offer natural versions of products like Doritos. A dye-free organic Gatorade came out in 2016.
Synthetic And Natural Colours Are In FDA's hands.
The US Food and Drug Administration has said it's expediting approval of natural additives after calling on companies to halt their use of synthetic dyes. In May, the FDA approved three new natural colour additives, including a blue colour derived from algae. In July, the agency approved gardenia blue, which is derived from a flowering evergreen.
The FDA banned one petroleum-based dye, Red 3, in January because it was shown to cause cancer in lab rats. And in September, the agency proposed a ban on Orange B, a synthetic colour that hasn't been used in decades.
Six synthetic dyes remain FDA-approved and widely used, despite mixed studies that show they may cause neurobehavioral problems in some children. Red 40, for example, is used in 25,965 food and beverage items on US store shelves, according to the market research firm NIQ.
- with inputs from AP
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