M&M’s without artificial dyes will debut later this year, part of a multi-million dollar push from the Mars company to align with the Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement.
The new, naturally dyed M&M’s will roll out in August on Amazon, the company told The Wall Street Journal, a first in the candy’s nearly nine-decade history.
“It was a daunting situation,” Anton Vincent, president of the Mars snacking division in North America, told the paper. “You’re messing with an 85-year-old icon.”
The new M&M’s will taste the same, according to the company, though fans of the chocolate minis will notice a few differences from the usual selection.
Brown and blue M&M’s will not be in the naturally dyed packs, at least for now.
The company was reportedly unable to find a way to replicate the classic, bright-hued M&M’s in these colors using natural analogs.
They reportedly tried using spirulina algae to remake the blue M&M’s, but it gummed up factory machinery.
Mars has dedicated about 100 employees and millions of dollars to the new M&M’s, which the company hopes to sell in all six usual colors by 2028.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy and his Republican allies in state government have pushed food makers to cease using artificial dyes, and last year, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced an investigation into Mars for alleged deceptive trade practices over its use of dyes.
Announcing the investigation, Paxton cited a 2016 pledge from the company to “remove all artificial colors from its human food products” and claims from Mars that “artificial colors pose no known risks to human health or safety,” which the Texas official argued “could not be further from the truth as these dyes have been linked to a number of negative health outcomes.”
At the time, Mars said it was “actively exploring choice product alternatives that satisfy scientific safety criteria, technical requirements and consumer preferences.”
A week after Paxton’s July threat, the company announced a pledge to offer naturally dyed versions of some of its products, a decision which it said it was already under consideration before the Texas official’s statements.
PepsiCo pursued a similar MAHA makeover, rolling out a “Simply NKD” line of Doritos and Cheetos made without artificial dyes and flavors.
Despite the administration’s push for healthier eating, some of its actions have attracted scrutiny.
Critics have warned that the MAHA movement’s emphasis on eating large amounts of animal proteins is a “biological time bomb” that could increase the prevalence of clogged arteries and type 2 diabetes.
President Trump himself, meanwhile, often ignores his health secretary’s advice, frequently consuming fast food and soda.
Kennedy has acknowledged the disconnect.
“The interesting thing about the president is that he eats really bad food – which is McDonald’s and then candy and Diet Coke,” he said on a podcast in January. “He drinks the Diet Coke all the time. He has the constitution of a deity. I don’t know how he’s alive, but he is.”
