The Claim

Made incredible strides in the effort to Make America Healthy Again, with roughly 40% of the American food industry — including major corporations like Walmart, Hershey and Nestlé — agreeing to eliminate artificial dyes from their products.

The Claim, Unpacked

What is literally being asserted?

That approximately 40% of the American food industry, measured by some unspecified metric, has voluntarily agreed to eliminate artificial dyes from their products, and that this represents a significant achievement of the MAHA initiative.

What is being implied but not asserted?

That the MAHA initiative caused these companies to act — that absent administration pressure, these dyes would remain in products. The word “agreeing” implies these companies reached a deal with the government, suggesting this is an active policy achievement rather than a voluntary corporate trend that the administration amplified. The phrase “eliminate artificial dyes from their products” implies a comprehensive removal across all product lines.

What is conspicuously absent?

That many of these companies had already removed artificial dyes from 85-90% of their product portfolios before MAHA existed. That multiple companies (General Mills, Mars, Kellogg’s) made identical pledges in 2015-2016 and then abandoned them. That Walmart’s pledge applies only to its private-label brands (Great Value, Marketside), not to the thousands of third-party products it sells. That the “40%” figure comes from an unaudited HHS spokesperson claim to Reuters, not an independent measurement. That the entire initiative is voluntary, with no binding enforcement mechanism and no regulatory requirement. That most completion deadlines extend to 2027 — a year after this claim was made. That the European Union required warning labels on these same dyes in 2010, sixteen years before the U.S. voluntary effort.

Padding Analysis: Overlap with Item 301

This claim substantially overlaps with Item 301, which covers the FDA’s announcement on April 22, 2025, to phase out eight artificial food dyes and approve four natural replacements. Item 301 addresses the regulatory action; this item repackages the same initiative as a corporate adoption story. The underlying policy is identical. The “40% of the food industry” framing is the industry-response dimension of the same announcement. This is not pure padding — it adds the corporate-pledge angle — but it inflates a single policy initiative into two separate “wins.”

Evidence Assessment

Established Facts

On April 22, 2025, HHS and FDA announced an initiative to phase out petroleum-based synthetic food dyes from the U.S. food supply. The announcement targeted eight dyes: Citrus Red No. 2, Orange B, FD&C Green No. 3, Red No. 40, Yellow No. 5, Yellow No. 6, Blue No. 1, and Blue No. 2. FDA proposed revoking authorization for Citrus Red No. 2 and Orange B and asked industry to voluntarily eliminate the remaining six by end of 2026 (later extended to end of 2027). ¹

As of December 2025, the FDA tracker listed 21 individual companies and 3 trade associations that had made pledges to remove synthetic dyes. Companies include Walmart, Hershey, Nestle, General Mills, Kraft Heinz, PepsiCo, Mars, Conagra, Tyson Foods, Kellanova, WK Kellogg Co, Campbell’s, Utz Brands, Danone U.S., Grupo Bimbo, In-N-Out Burger, McCormick, PIM Brands, J.M. Smucker, Target, and Sam’s Club. Trade associations include the Consumer Brands Association, American Bakers Association, and International Dairy Foods Association. ²

The “roughly 40%” figure originated from an HHS spokesperson statement to Reuters. The spokesperson stated that “including industry associations such as the American Bakers Association and the Consumer Brands Association, nearly 40% of the entire CPG industry has made public commitments to removing dyes in the near term.” The metric was not defined — it is unclear whether this measures revenue, number of companies, market share, or some other basis. No independent verification of this figure has been published. ³

The vast majority of pledging companies’ products were already free of synthetic dyes before the MAHA initiative. Nestle stated that 90% of its current U.S. portfolio did not include synthetic colors. Kraft Heinz reported nearly 90% of its portfolio was already free of FD&C colors by net sales. General Mills stated 85% of its retail products were already made without artificial colors. Walmart said approximately 90% of its private-brand food products were already free from synthetic dyes. ⁴

Multiple pledging companies had made and abandoned identical commitments a decade earlier. General Mills pledged in 2015 to remove all synthetic dyes from its cereals by 2017, then began selling cereals with artificial colors again in 2017. Mars committed in 2016 to remove artificial colors by 2021 but reversed course, keeping dyes in U.S. products while removing them from European ones. Kellogg’s pledged in 2015 to remove artificial colors by 2018 but failed to meet that deadline. The CSPI documented that “Campbell’s, General Mills, Mars, Mondelez, and Kellogg’s all failed to fulfill earlier pledges to phase out synthetic colors.” ⁵

Walmart’s commitment applies exclusively to its private-label brands, not to all products sold in its stores. The affected brands are Great Value, Marketside, Freshness Guaranteed, and bettergoods. Third-party products sold at Walmart — which constitute the vast majority of its food offerings — are not covered. Walmart attributed the decision to “evolving customer preferences,” not government pressure, citing internal survey data showing 62% of customers want ingredient transparency. ⁶

Strong Inferences

The “40% of the food industry” framing likely overstates the practical scope of the commitments. The CSPI tracker found that of the top 25 CPG companies by 2020 sales, only 46% had pledged to remove dyes from all products as of October 2025, while 33% had no plan at all and 17% had unclear commitments. A 2025 industry report found synthetic dyes were present in 19% of CPG products, representing more than $46 billion in consumer purchases — meaning the reformulation task, while real, is confined to a subset of product lines. As of February 2026, only 4 of 23 pledges tracked by the FDA had been completed. ⁷

The initiative relies entirely on voluntary compliance, with no binding enforcement mechanism. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary stated: “I believe in love, and let’s start in a friendly way and see if we can do this without any statutory or regulatory changes.” CSPI President Peter Lurie characterized this approach as an unspecified “understanding” with an unspecified fraction of the industry, noting: “Relying on voluntary food industry compliance has all-too-often proven to be a fool’s errand.” There is no formal agreement, no FDA rule, no regulation, and no legal recourse if companies fail to honor their pledges — as they demonstrably did in 2015-2017. ⁸

State-level legislative action, not the federal MAHA initiative, created the strongest market incentives for reformulation. California banned Red Dye No. 3 in 2023 (AB 418) and banned six synthetic dyes in K-12 schools in 2024 (AB 2316). West Virginia enacted the nation’s broadest dye ban in March 2025, prohibiting seven dyes in school nutrition programs effective August 2025 and in all food products effective January 2028. As of early 2026, at least 20 state bills had been adopted and 48 were under review. These binding state regulations, not voluntary federal “understandings,” create the actual legal compulsion to reformulate. ⁹

The European Union imposed mandatory warning labels on foods containing these dyes in 2010, which effectively drove most European reformulation. Following the 2007 Southampton study linking synthetic dyes to hyperactivity in children, the EU required labels stating: “May have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.” Companies like Mars, Kellogg’s, and Nestle reformulated European products while keeping synthetic dyes in identical American products for over a decade — demonstrating that these companies reformulate when legally required and delay when compliance is voluntary. ¹⁰

What the Evidence Shows

The factual core of this claim has a genuine basis. The MAHA initiative and the April 2025 FDA announcement did produce a wave of corporate pledges to eliminate synthetic food dyes, and the administration can legitimately claim to have accelerated a conversation about food additives that had been languishing at the federal level for years. By naming specific companies and creating an FDA tracker, the administration applied reputational pressure that brought some holdouts to the table. The underlying public health concern — synthetic dyes linked to behavioral effects in children, particularly Red No. 40, Yellow No. 5, and Yellow No. 6 — is supported by research dating to the 2007 Southampton study and acknowledged by the European Union since 2010.

However, the claim substantially misrepresents both the scale and novelty of what occurred. The “roughly 40%” figure is an unverified, undefined metric from an HHS spokesperson, with no explanation of how it was calculated. The named companies — Walmart, Hershey, and Nestle — had already eliminated synthetic dyes from 85-90% of their product portfolios before the MAHA initiative existed. Walmart’s pledge covers only its private-label brands, not the thousands of products from other manufacturers it sells. The entire framework is voluntary, with no regulatory mandate, no binding agreement, and no enforcement mechanism — a structure that mirrors the failed voluntary pledges of 2015-2016 that multiple companies abandoned.

Most critically, the timelines tell a revealing story. The claim was made on January 20, 2026, but most corporate pledges set completion dates of end-of-2027 — meaning the claim credits as an achievement something that is, at best, a set of promises to act in the future. As of February 2026, only 4 of 23 FDA-tracked pledges had been completed. The distinction between “agreeing to eliminate” (an announcement) and “eliminating” (an outcome) is the heart of what makes this claim misleading.

The Bottom Line

The administration deserves credit for elevating the synthetic food dye issue to a level of national visibility it had not previously reached at the federal level, and the corporate pledge wave is real. Reducing unnecessary synthetic additives in the food supply is a legitimate public health objective supported by evidence. To that extent, the steel-man case holds: something happened, and the administration played a role.

But the claim inflates announcements into accomplishments. The “40% of the food industry” is an unaudited administration talking point, not a verified statistic. The named companies were overwhelmingly already there before MAHA existed. The pledges are voluntary and non-binding, echoing earlier commitments that the same companies abandoned. And the binding legal pressure actually driving reformulation comes from state legislatures and the European regulatory model — not from the federal voluntary “understanding.” Calling this an “incredible stride” conflates a press strategy with a policy outcome.

Footnotes

1. FDA, “HHS, FDA to Phase Out Petroleum-Based Synthetic Dyes in Nation’s Food Supply,” April 22, 2025. https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/hhs-fda-phase-out-petroleum-based-synthetic-dyes-nations-food-supply ↩

2. FDA, “Tracking Food Industry Pledges to Remove Petroleum Based Food Dyes,” updated December 12, 2025. https://www.fda.gov/food/color-additives-information-consumers/tracking-food-industry-pledges-remove-petroleum-based-food-dyes ↩

3. The Food Institute, “The Latest in the War on Food Dyes,” February 3, 2026, reporting HHS spokesperson statement to Reuters. https://foodinstitute.com/focus/the-latest-in-the-war-on-food-dyes/ ↩

4. Company-specific data: Nestle (90% portfolio already dye-free per Food Dive, June 2025); Kraft Heinz (nearly 90% per ABC News, June 2025); General Mills (85% per Food Navigator, June 2025); Walmart (90% per corporate announcement, October 2025). https://corporate.walmart.com/news/2025/10/01/walmart-u-s-moves-to-eliminate-synthetic-dyes-across-all-private-brand-food-products ↩

5. CSPI, “Synthetic Dyes Corporate Commitment Tracker,” October 2025. Documents broken 2015-2016 pledges by General Mills, Mars, Kellogg’s, Campbell’s, and Mondelez. https://www.cspi.org/page/synthetic-dyes-corporate-commitment-tracker ↩

6. Walmart Corporate, “Walmart U.S. Moves To Eliminate Synthetic Dyes Across All Private Brand Food Products,” October 1, 2025. Covers Great Value, Marketside, Freshness Guaranteed, and bettergoods only. https://corporate.walmart.com/news/2025/10/01/walmart-u-s-moves-to-eliminate-synthetic-dyes-across-all-private-brand-food-products ↩

7. CSPI Tracker (46%/33%/17% breakdown of top 25 CPG companies); Food Institute report ($46 billion/19% of products contain synthetic dyes); FDA tracker (4 of 23 pledges completed as of Feb 2026). https://www.cspi.org/page/synthetic-dyes-corporate-commitment-tracker ↩

8. STAT News, “Food companies agree to phase out synthetic dyes, in win for MAHA,” April 22, 2025 (Makary quote); CSPI, “FDA asked companies to cut food dyes. Is it enough?” (Lurie quote). https://www.cspi.org/cspi-news/fda-asked-companies-cut-food-dyes-it-enough ↩

9. California AB 418 (2023, Red No. 3 ban); California AB 2316 (2024, school dye ban); West Virginia HB 2354 (March 24, 2025, broadest state dye ban); Food Institute (20 adopted bills, 48 under review as of Feb 2026). https://foodinstitute.com/focus/the-latest-in-the-war-on-food-dyes/ ↩

10. EU Regulation (EC) No. 1333/2008, requiring warning labels on six synthetic dyes from July 2010, following the 2007 University of Southampton study on food dyes and hyperactivity in children (McCann et al., The Lancet, 2007). https://www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2007/09/hyperactivity-in-children-and-food-additives.page ↩