My thoughts on food dye bans and swirling controversy in the industry.

The past week has been somewhat of a whirlwind in our industry - understandably so, as RFK plans to move forward with banning (pretty much all) artificial food dyes.

I first want to be very clear, there is currently no nationwide legislation that is banning all food dyes. The only recent food dye being banned - back in January I believe - was RED3. However in a recent conference, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called for a ban on all food dyes namely;

RED40

YELLOW5

YELLOW6

BLUE1

BLUE2

GREEN3

CITRUS RED2

ORANGEB

What is happening, to explain in the most simple terms is this..

Certain states have passed legislation banning certain dyes already, namely California, West Virginia, Utah and Virginia. This is leaving food manufacturers scrambling to ensure they are abiding by these rules when selling and distributing to these states.

As you can imagine, this creating a challenging environment for food and food dye manufacturers.

Due to this confusion and difficulty, there’s growing calls for nationwide standardization - which I agree would be the best move. In my mind that would mean strict warning labels on food products containing dyes and/or overall bans on artificial food dyes. The only way this happens is for the FDA to revoke approval of the dyes for use in food products. Obviously that would still give manufacturers some grace and some time to reformulate. However at this point it is a voluntary agreement from the FDA that this will happen - which is somewhat disappointing. It leaves the subject open for debate which isn’t necessarily bad but it means that the confusion continues to grow.

And this is where the controversy in our industry begins - and by ‘our industry’ I mean bakers and decorators. We all use food dye on a daily basis. We generally all have our preferences when it comes to food dye brands. These brands have no doubt been thrown for a loop with this news - I am not debating that this isn’t a MASSIVE challenge for them.

However, this is where we are seeing a line being drawn in the sand.

Enter the letter that AMERICOLOR posts on their social media - after hyping up the fact that they have an announcement.

I think you probably can relate when I say I was not shocked but definitely bewildered to read this letter. Here’s just some of the responses they got.

“While I was patiently awaiting a statement, this one wasn’t it.”

“I’m not completely sure what you should’ve said, but I’m 100% sure it’s not this.”

“This is very disappointing. I was hoping like so many other amazing companies, you would be making the announcement you were taking the appropriate steps to create a new formula that would eliminate the harmful toxins/dyes from your product.”

Americolor is a large brand, they are (or so I thought they were) leaders in the industry when it comes to food dyes. And yet they have looked this challenge in the eye, and chosen to turn around with their tail between their legs. Besides for the fact that many of their statements are categorically false, it’s astonishing that a brand like this which likely has a whole PR department, could make such a useless, and downright tone deaf statement. The comments on the post speak for themselves. Americolor is based in California, which if you remember my above statement, they already have passed legislation banning certain food dyes. Namely RED3, BLUE1, BLUE2, GREEN3, RED40, YELLOW5 and YELLOW6.

In my opinion, they didn’t say they won’t formulate a natural range, but they very much used this opportunity to declare their political position.

Enough about that, I want to talk about the stark contrast between their statement and the statement made by The Sugar Art.

This message was like that first breath of fresh air as you step out of your door on a crisp spring morning. The Sugar Art has looked this challenge dead in the eyes and decided to not only embrace it BUT also take their customers along for the journey. This is what leadership looks like in our industry and this is what taking responsibility looks like. I personally spoke to Holly from The Sugar Art about their dye-free experiments and I have no doubt they will bring a range to the market that is robust, vibrant and versatile.

While all this controversy swirls and decorators/bakers may start feeling the anxiousness creep in, I want to remind you of two things.

There are already great dye-free food color brands/options on the market. They exist and they are great quality, not even subpar options okay. If you want to download my free comparison sheet, you can do that here. I want to encourage you to try them!

Additionally, just as food dye brands are making a choice now, YOU, the baker/decorator has a choice. Are you going to wait until you are forced to change, or are you going to start leaning in and learning all that you can? The best time to start is now, and I have the resources to help you.

I would love for you to weigh your thoughts in the comments here! And if you made it this far, thank you for reading! Please consider subscribing.

Camella