Does a clear freezie taste as sweet? The foods going colourless because ‘it’s better for you’
Do grape-flavoured freezies need to be purple? And must the nacho cheese dust left on your fingertips be quite so flaming orange? Some food and beverage companies are betting not, dropping the colourings altogether in a bid to remove artificial food dyes.
As consumers’ priorities shift and regulatory scrutiny rises in the United States, the food and beverage industry is moving away from synthetic dyes. According to a March 2026 survey from Consumer Reports , roughly 72 per cent of adults are at least somewhat concerned about the use of artificial food dyes, which research has linked to health issues including allergies and hyperactivity.
Synthetic food dyes serve a purely cosmetic purpose, and eliminating them is a step in the right direction, experts told National Post. Swapping synthetic food dyes for natural ones is proving challenging for the food and beverage industry. Natural tints made from algae, minerals and plants can be costly and less shelf-stable , causing some companies to move in a different, tintless direction.
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PepsiCo Inc. went “ completely colourless ” last year with its Simply NKD line of Cheetos and Doritos, reformulated without artificial flavours or dyes. Promising the “same intensity,” the new products generated US$3 million in sales in their first month in stores, RTI International told Food Dive , citing Circana data. Other companies are following. Jel Sert, the maker of Otter Pops , Fla-Vor-Ice and Kool Pops, for instance, reportedly plans to remove all colourings from its treats by early 2028. Colourless Otter Pops made with apple juice concentrate are already on the market.
Matt Ingemi, Jel Sert’s chief strategy officer, told Bloomberg that given the challenges of natural dyes, the company will drop tints altogether and use colourful images on packaging to convey flavour. “We’ll make it fun.”
Yu Ma, a professor of marketing at McGill University, says this approach makes sense in a crowded retail environment, where brands want to stand out as much as possible from the competition. “Without colour, you’re losing that punch in attracting people’s attention, and they don’t want to lose that,” says Ma.
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