Ice cream may soon start tasting differently.
The U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. intends for the Food and Drug Administration to phase out the use of petroleum-based synthetic dyes in the nation’s food supply.
As a result, a group of 40 ice cream producers, including Turkey Hill and Schwoeppe Dairy, have pledged to remove Red No. 3, Red 40, Green 3, Blue 1, Blue 2, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6 by the end of 2027, according to the International Dairy Foods Association. The group accounts for more than 90 percent of the ice cream sold in the U.S.
The pledge to remove food dyes will only be applied to ice creams that are made with dairy milk and are sold at grocery stores, convenience stores, and online retailers.
Ice creams made with non-dairy ingredients and small businesses that make their own ice cream will not be included, according to the International Dairy Foods Association.
The Trump administration has led the move to eliminate synthetic dyes from the food supply by the end of next year, saying it could mark a “major step forward” in the drive to “Make America Healthy Again.” The ban would impact products such as breakfast cereals, candy, and snacks. The dyes have been tied to neurological problems in some children.
“For too long, some food producers have been feeding Americans petroleum-based chemicals without their knowledge or consent,” Kennedy said in a statement back in February. “These poisonous compounds offer no nutritional benefit and pose real, measurable dangers to our children’s health and development.”
He added: “We’re restoring gold-standard science, applying common sense, and beginning to earn back the public’s trust. And, we’re doing it by working with industry to get these toxic dyes out of the foods our families eat every day.”
At a cabinet meeting at the beginning of April, Kennedy claimed the dyes directly affect “academic performance, violence in the schools, and mental health, as well as physical health.”
In addition to ice cream, Kraft Heinz, the maker of Jell-O, Kool-Aid, and boxed macaroni and cheese, also announced last month that it would remove all chemical dyes from its products by the end of 2027.
The company stated that, while 90 percent of its U.S. products measured by sales are already free of artificial dyes, it will not use any Food, Drug & Cosmetic colors in any new products moving forward.
Kraft Heinz said that for the small number of their products that still contain artificial colors, they plan to remove the dyes where they are not critical, replace them with natural colors, or, in instances where the color isn’t critical to the product, they would remove them entirely.
While many products will not be impacted, some that may see changes include Crystal Light, Heinz relish, Kool-Aid, Jell-O, and Jet-Puffed, as they contain dyes such as Red No. 40 and Blue No. 1.
