Gatorade Drops Artificial Dye
- Gatorade announced it will remove FD&C artificial colors and switch to plant-based dyes from fruits and vegetables. (x.com) - RFK Jr. publicly praised the move as part of his 'Make America Healthy Again' messaging on social. (x.com) - The announcement sparked tens of thousands of likes and widespread social media discussion today. (x.com)
Gatorade said it will start stripping artificial food dyes from more of its drinks in 2026, replacing FD&C colors with colors from fruits and vegetables. (prnewswire.com) The company said its full powder-stick lineup will remove artificial colors later this spring. It also said Fruit Punch, Lemon Lime, and Orange in both Gatorade Thirst Quencher and Gatorade Zero will switch away from FD&C dyes later this fall. (prnewswire.com) Gatorade has already tested the approach on a newer product. PepsiCo said on March 4 that Gatorade Lower Sugar launched nationwide with no artificial flavors, sweeteners, or colors and 75% less sugar than Gatorade Thirst Quencher. (pepsico.com) FD&C colors are the certified synthetic dyes the Food and Drug Administration allows in food, including colors such as Yellow No. 6. The agency says colors exempt from certification generally come from natural sources such as vegetables, minerals, or animals. (fda.gov) The timing lines up with a broader government push on food colorings. On April 22, 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration said they would work to phase out petroleum-based synthetic dyes from the U.S. food supply by the end of 2026. (hhs.gov) Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Health and Human Services secretary, has tied that campaign to his “Make America Healthy Again” message. He publicly cheered Gatorade’s move on social media as the company’s announcement spread online this weekend. (x.com) States have been moving too. California said on September 28, 2024, that it would bar public schools from serving or selling foods with certain synthetic dyes under Assembly Bill 2316, and an earlier 2023 law banned Red Dye 3 from foods sold statewide starting January 1, 2027. (gov.ca.gov 1) (gov.ca.gov 2) PepsiCo has said the reformulation is also a business decision. Mike Del Pozzo, president of PepsiCo’s U.S. beverages category, said removing artificial ingredients makes nearly half of consumers more likely to buy the drink, even though changing Gatorade’s signature colors is “incredibly difficult.” (aol.com) For Gatorade, the next test is whether drinks built around electric orange, neon yellow, and bright red can keep those shelf cues after the labels lose the FD&C letters. (fooddive.com)
