{"id":71541,"date":"2026-06-20T19:45:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T23:45:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=71541"},"modified":"2026-06-29T18:01:41","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T22:01:41","slug":"mms-maker-is-scrapping-two-iconic-colors-amid-a-push-to-remove-artificial-dyes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/06\/20\/mms-maker-is-scrapping-two-iconic-colors-amid-a-push-to-remove-artificial-dyes\/","title":{"rendered":"M&M’s maker is scrapping two iconic colors amid a push to remove artificial dyes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Correction:\u00a0<\/strong>The Blue and Brown M&M\u2019S aren\u2019t being eliminated. They are just not included in this initial FD&C-free lineup. Mars aims to have the full core blend available by 2028.\u00a0More here in this link:\u00a0https:\/\/www.mars.com\/news-and-stories\/articles\/mars-wrigley-us-extends-consumer-choice<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It sounds wild, but it is entirely true. Mars (the maker of M&M\u2019s) is rolling out a brand-new, artificial dye-free version of M&M\u2019s on Amazon, and blue<\/strong> and brown<\/strong> are completely missing from the bag.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This change is a direct result of pressure from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) initiative to push petroleum-based synthetic dyes out of the U.S. food supply.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Replicating those colors naturally turned out to be an absolute nightmare for Mars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Blue and Brown Got the Boot<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While Mars successfully used natural sources like beets and turmeric to recreate red and yellow, blue proved to be a multi-million-dollar roadblock:<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • The Algae Problem:<\/strong> To replace artificial Blue 1, Mars used spirulina extract<\/strong> (a blue-green algae powder). KGW<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The Machinery Meltdown:<\/strong> Spirulina doesn’t dissolve perfectly in water. Because blue requires a massive amount of pigment to look right, the thick sludge kept clogging the factory’s spray nozzles and creating machine build-ups, which posed sanitary and operational hazards. KGW<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The Cost:<\/strong> Spirulina is incredibly expensive\u2014running anywhere from $20 to $100 per pound, compared to about $10 a pound for turmeric. KGW<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Why Brown Suffered too:<\/strong> To get that classic chocolate-brown candy shell color, the factory actually relies on a mixture that includes blue dye. No blue, no brown.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    What the New Bags Look Like<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Mars executives briefly considered releasing a warm-toned bag featuring just red, orange, and yellow, but reportedly killed the idea because “the sunset vibes were too strong.”<\/sup> Instead, they decided to launch the natural line with red, yellow, orange, and green<\/strong>.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    They also experimented with adding new natural colors like pink and purple to fill the void, but felt it ruined the classic M&M\u2019s aesthetic.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Don’t panic if you love the full rainbow, though. Mars is treating this as a transition phase rather than a permanent deletion.<\/sup> They\u2019ve hired over 100 new employees specifically to solve the spirulina problem, and their current goal is to figure out the engineering and bring blue and brown back\u2014completely natural\u2014by 2028<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Correction:\u00a0The Blue and Brown M&M\u2019S aren\u2019t being eliminated. They are just not included in this initial FD&C-free lineup. Mars aims to have the full core blend available by 2028.\u00a0More here… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDZcL2U4ZTFhNGY4LTc4OWItNGZkZC1iZDc3LWI4ODQ2MTAwNTcyMl8xMTQweDY0MS53ZWJwP2ZpdD0xMDI0JTJDNTc2JnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiTSZhbXA7TSYjODIxNztzIG1ha2VyIGlzIHNjcmFwcGluZyB0d28gaWNvbmljIGNvbG9ycyBhbWlkIGEgcHVzaCB0byByZW1vdmUgYXJ0aWZpY2lhbCBkeWVzIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.UmjXLRdZ8qbUY14lQ4r1M7etZMtmS5ACwxxY8-VNzqYMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDZcL2U4ZTFhNGY4LTc4OWItNGZkZC1iZDc3LWI4ODQ2MTAwNTcyMl8xMTQweDY0MS53ZWJwP2ZpdD0xMDI0JTJDNTc2JnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiTSZhbXA7TSdzIG1ha2VyIGlzIHNjcmFwcGluZyB0d28gaWNvbmljIGNvbG9ycyBhbWlkIGEgcHVzaCB0byByZW1vdmUgYXJ0aWZpY2lhbCBkeWVzIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.BXKZcd3z5x-unQlBdmgRf0JxdotxsMRDT-RjcMWOwgAMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[14942],"class_list":["post-71541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regional-and-world-news","tag-mms-maker-is-scrapping-two-iconic-colors-amid-a-push-to-remove-artificial-dyes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71541"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72331,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71541\/revisions\/72331"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}