Nutrition Diet: Which brands use natural dyes?

October 19, 2025 •

5 min read

With consumer demand for natural ingredients on the rise, over 60% of global consumers now say that clean labels, including natural colorants, influence their purchasing decisions. This growing awareness is causing many food manufacturers to re-evaluate their products, prompting a major industry shift: identifying which brands use natural dyes instead of artificial ones.

Quick Summary

This article explores the consumer-driven shift away from artificial colorants, examining the major food brands embracing natural dyes derived from fruits, vegetables, and spices. It details the sources of these plant-based pigments, compares their properties to synthetic dyes, and highlights the ingredient suppliers innovating natural coloring solutions.

Key Points

Consumer Demand: A large majority of consumers globally prefer products with natural ingredients, driving food brands to replace synthetic dyes.
Common Natural Sources: Natural colors are sourced from plants, fruits, vegetables, and minerals, such as beetroot, turmeric, spirulina, and paprika.
Major Brands are Transitioning: Companies like PepsiCo, Kraft Heinz, General Mills, Annie's, and Stonyfield Organic are actively replacing artificial colors in many popular products.
Ingredient Suppliers Enable the Shift: Specialized ingredient companies like Sensient, Oterra, and GNT develop advanced, stable natural colorants for CPG manufacturers.
Natural vs. Artificial: Natural dyes are generally safer but can be less stable, more expensive, and less vibrant than their artificial counterparts.
Innovation Overcomes Challenges: Ingredient science is addressing stability and cost issues through technologies like encapsulation and breeding pigment-rich crops.
Clean Labels Matter: The use of natural dyes allows for simpler, cleaner ingredient labels that appeal to health-conscious consumers.

The Rise of Clean Labels and Natural Dyes

The move towards natural food colorants is a direct response to a significant, global consumer trend favoring 'clean label' products—those with fewer, more recognizable ingredients. Decades of research have raised concerns about the potential health effects of synthetic food dyes, particularly concerning hyperactivity in children and other health issues, even though many remain FDA-approved. This scrutiny, coupled with a general desire for more wholesome and transparent food options, has prompted major food and beverage companies to reformulate their popular products. This shift leverages powerful natural pigments, primarily sourced from edible plants and other natural sources, to achieve vibrant and appealing colors without resorting to petroleum-based synthetics.

What are natural dyes?

Natural food dyes are colorants derived from natural origins, including vegetables, fruits, minerals, and other edible sources. Some common sources include:

Beetroot: Provides vibrant red and pink hues, often used in dairy, confectionery, and desserts.
Turmeric and Saffron: Offer rich yellow colors for sauces, cheeses, and baked goods.
Spirulina: A blue-green algae, its extracts yield beautiful blue and green shades for beverages and candy.
Carotenoids: A class of pigments found in carrots, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes, giving orange and yellow tones.
Anthocyanins: Found in purple sweet potatoes, black carrots, and berries, these pigments create red, blue, and purple colors.
Paprika Extract: Sourced from peppers, it provides a warm red-orange color.
Caramel Color: A brown coloring agent made from heating carbohydrates.

Prominent Brands Making the Switch

Major consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies have responded to consumer demand by transitioning to natural alternatives across their product lines. This is particularly noticeable in products marketed towards children.

PepsiCo: Has been a leader in this transition, launching its Simply brand with natural colors over two decades ago. The company recently announced it would accelerate the removal of artificial dyes from key products like Cheetos and Gatorade, experimenting with ingredients such as paprika, turmeric, and purple sweet potato.
Kraft Heinz: Following consumer feedback, announced a move to phase out artificial food coloring from its products. Their iconic Macaroni & Cheese, for instance, now gets its signature yellow-orange color from paprika, turmeric, and annatto.
General Mills: Pledged to remove artificial colors from its cereals, using natural sources like vegetable juice and fruit extracts to color popular products like Trix and Fruity Cheerios.
Annie's Homegrown: This brand built its reputation on using natural ingredients, and its range of crackers, snacks, and mac and cheese products are colored with plant-based ingredients like beets and purple carrots.
Stonyfield Organic: Known for its organic kids' yogurts, the brand uses natural fruit juices and vegetable extracts for coloring instead of artificial dyes.
Trader Joe's: Has a company-wide policy to avoid artificial flavors and colors, with all its branded products being free of synthetic dyes.
Hiya Health: This children's vitamin brand explicitly avoids artificial dyes, using turmeric for yellow and beetroot or spirulina for other colors.
Chomps: This meat stick brand and other dye-free snack brands emphasize clean ingredients, avoiding artificial colorings in their products.
Terra Veggie Chips: The vibrant colors of these chips come from the natural vegetables they are made from, such as beets, carrots, and yams.

Behind the Scenes: The Ingredient Suppliers

The large-scale adoption of natural colorants by CPG brands would not be possible without specialized ingredient suppliers who provide stable, concentrated, and standardized natural color solutions. Key industry players include:

Sensient Technologies: Offers an extensive portfolio of plant-based colorants and advanced stabilization technologies to improve heat and light stability.
Oterra: The world's leading supplier of natural colors, offering a wide range of natural pigments, including beetroot red and carotenoids.
GNT Group: Known for its EXBERRY line, which uses concentrates made exclusively from edible fruits and vegetables to create 'coloring foods'.
ADM: A global food processing leader that offers a portfolio of natural color solutions, including anthocyanins and caramel colors.
Döhler: Provides technology-driven natural ingredient systems, deriving colors from sources like beetroot, black carrot, and purple sweet potato.

Natural vs. Artificial Dyes: A Comparison


Feature	Natural Food Dyes	Artificial Food Dyes
Source	Plants, vegetables, fruits, minerals, algae	Petroleum and coal tar derivatives
Cost	Typically more expensive due to extraction and sourcing costs	Cost-effective and suitable for mass production
Color Range	Can be limited in certain vivid shades	Offer a wide range of bright, consistent, and reproducible colors
Color Stability	Less stable; sensitive to heat, light, and pH changes	Highly stable and resistant to environmental factors
Health Benefits	May offer antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and other nutritional benefits from their source	No nutritional value; concerns about hyperactivity and other risks exist
Labeling	Can often be labeled simply as their source (e.g., 'Beetroot Concentrate') for a cleaner label	Must be declared by their common name or as 'artificial color'

Challenges and Innovations in Natural Color

Moving to natural colorants isn't without its hurdles. The lower stability of natural pigments means colors can fade or change hue over time or with heat exposure during processing. For example, the brilliant blue from spirulina can turn green when added to an acidic recipe. Natural sources can also be more expensive and face seasonal availability issues.

However, the ingredient industry is continually innovating to overcome these challenges. Advanced techniques like encapsulation protect fragile pigments from environmental factors, improving their shelf life and performance. Blending different natural sources helps achieve precise and stable shades. Some companies are even developing new crop varieties bred for higher pigment concentration and stability. These innovations are making natural dyes more viable for large-scale, mass-market applications.

Conclusion: A More Colorful and Transparent Future

The increasing adoption of natural dyes by a growing number of brands is a clear indicator of a wider shift in the food industry. Fueled by consumer demand for healthier, more transparent, and natural ingredients, this trend is reshaping how food is colored and perceived. While challenges remain concerning cost and stability, ongoing innovation by ingredient suppliers is paving the way for more vibrant and reliable natural color solutions. As more brands listen to consumer preference and regulatory pressures, the market for products with natural dyes will continue to expand, offering a healthier and more sustainable option for nutrition-conscious consumers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Brands are switching to natural dyes primarily due to increasing consumer demand for 'clean label' products with fewer and more recognizable ingredients. There are also mounting public and regulatory pressures concerning the potential health effects of artificial colorants.

Yes, unlike synthetic dyes which offer no nutritional value, natural food colors often come from sources rich in beneficial compounds. For example, some natural colors are derived from plants containing antioxidants and vitamins.

In small amounts, natural colorants are typically formulated to be flavor-neutral. However, if larger quantities are used or the process is not refined, a slight flavor from the source ingredient (like beetroot or turmeric) could be noticeable, though this is becoming less common with modern techniques.

Generally, artificial dyes offer more vibrant and consistent color payoff. Natural dyes can produce vibrant colors but are often more prone to fading or shifting hue due to heat, light, or pH levels. Innovations like encapsulation help improve their performance.

Check the product's ingredient list. Natural colorants are typically listed by their source, such as 'beetroot extract,' 'annatto,' or 'paprika,' whereas artificial dyes must be identified individually (e.g., 'Red 40,' 'Yellow 5') or collectively as 'artificial color'.

Key challenges for brands include the higher cost of natural colorants, their lower stability (vulnerability to heat, light, and pH), and the potential for a more limited color range compared to synthetic dyes. The industry is addressing these through innovation.

The shelf life of natural dyes can be shorter than that of their artificial counterparts, and they are often more sensitive to storage conditions like temperature, light, and air exposure. Suppliers have developed stabilizers to extend their useful life.