Walmart's Private Brands Are About To Get More Natural By Rolling Back On Dyes And 30 Other Ingredients

When you see Walmart making changes to its own store-brand foods' ingredients, you know a concern has gone mainstream. That's exactly what's about to happen with a long list of artificial food dyes and additives. Fears concerning artificial additives in food have haunted some for decades but have been front and center this year as a centerpiece of U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s "Make America Healthy Again" campaign. It's a movement that has seen a pledge to change Coke's formula by using cane sugar and has made food dyes, in particular, a big target. Walmart is the latest brand undergoing these more health-conscious changes.

In an official press release, Walmart revealed that it plans to eliminate synthetic dyes from all of its store-brand food labels, along with 30 other ingredients, some of which are already banned in other countries. The changes will affect the brands Great Value, Marketside, Freshness Guaranteed, and bettergoods, which are all Walmart-made products. The company does not mention any government policy by name, instead noting that the decision is in response to changing consumer preferences.

Additionally, Walmart claims that 90% of its private-label food is already free of synthetic dyes but that it is working with suppliers to get that to 100% by January 2027 "at the latest." This is a major development because Walmart is actually the largest grocery store chain in the United States and comes on the heels of similar announcements from big companies like PepsiCo and General Mills.

Walmart's announcement lists 11 different kinds of artificial food coloring that it plans on removing, and the changes could mean reformulating over 1,000 different products. The company has said it is committed to keeping prices low but has admitted that some products' costs could be affected on a case-by-case basis. While concerns about food dyes have been increasing, the science on their harm is mixed, with some evidence that they cause hyperactivity in children and animals, though there is admittedly little research on the topic.

Of course, the food dyes are just part of Walmart's upcoming changes. 30 other ingredients are being removed, including controversial additives like titanium dioxide, potassium bromate, and propylparaben, which have all been previously banned in Europe, and some have been banned in the U.S., particularly California, as well. The full list includes items that are used as preservatives, artificial sweeteners, and fat substitutes, among others.

However, some of the ingredients that Walmart is soon to be removing are unusual, as they have not actually been used for years, including the dye Orange B, which was last found in a product back in 1978. Still, champions of clean and natural food will no doubt see this as a major victory for their movement. While this move seems to only apply to Walmart's private in-store brands rather than the entire catalog of products sold in the store, it's an announcement that seems certain to have ripple effects across the industry.