Sam’s Club Races to Eliminate Artificial Dyes, Struggles with Natural Color Vibrancy
Walmart’s Sam’s Club, under the leadership of Nick Scheidler in product development, is navigating the final frontier of food transformation by removing artificial dyes from its store brand, Member’s Mark. The initiative, commenced in 2022, aims to eliminate numerous ingredients, including high-fructose corn syrup and certain preservatives, by year-end.
The elimination of synthetic dyes poses the greatest challenge. “Color has been a significant hurdle for us,” admits Scheidler. “We don’t want to release muted colors into the market.”
In response to pressure from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and various states, major food brands are pledging to phase out synthetic dyes from snacks, candies, and cereals. Companies like Kraft Heinz, Nestle, Campbell’s, and Mars are investing substantial resources to ensure a seamless transition to natural dyes, striving for vibrancy and saturation equivalent to the original, bright and vivid versions.
However, this investment raises questions about its necessity. As food executives might argue, the saga of Trix cereal offers a compelling case study.
A decade ago, General Mills announced plans to remove artificial dyes from Trix cereal and replaced them with fruits and vegetables for coloration. Despite the healthier option, consumers found the new version duller in color and missing the characteristic blue puffs. The backlash was swift, with many shoppers expressing disappointment, resulting in General Mills reintroducing the original formula.
Thomas Galligan of the Center for Science in the Public Interest argues that this incident highlights a concerning trend. “General Mills framed this as a consumer demand issue: This is what consumers want,” he says, citing health concerns regarding synthetic dyes, particularly in children.
The Trix debacle set a precedent, leading brands to introduce natural dyes in select regions rather than universally. For instance, Kellogg dyed Froot Loops with spices and juices in Canada but not the U.S., while Mars phased out artificial colors in M&M’s in Europe but not the U.S.
The history of food dyeing can be traced back centuries, with dairy farmers adding spices to cheese to enhance its yellow hue. In the U.S., the rise of railroads and processed foods led to widespread color manipulation, particularly in competition between regions and products.
The advent of color advertising and modern supermarkets reinforced consumer expectations of specific food appearances. For instance, people have come to expect strawberry drinks to be paler than fresh strawberries, store-bought pickled peppers more vibrant than homemade ones, and unnaturally green mint ice cream.
Scheidler’s team at Sam’s Club is experimenting with natural dyes in snacks and sweets, using spices like turmeric for yellow tones, beets for red, annatto for orange, and spirulina for blue. However, these savory-tasting dyes often require masking their flavors with sweeteners or other new ingredients, making the process more complex and costly.
Despite the challenges, Scheidler remains optimistic about meeting the year-end deadline for removing artificial colors and other unwanted ingredients from Sam’s Club products. Shopper surveys suggest that color and appearance remain crucial factors in their product choices.