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You Won't Find These 2 Colors of M&M's for a While
Newser • • business
Key Points:
- Mars faces significant challenges in replacing synthetic dyes with natural colors for M&M's, producing 600 million candies daily in the US.
- The company uses beet and turmeric for red, orange, and yellow colors, and spirulina, a blue-green algae, for green coloring.
- Blue coloring is particularly difficult to achieve naturally, as spirulina, the primary source, clogs spray nozzles and disrupts production.
- Brown M&M's also rely partly on blue coloring, complicating the transition to natural dyes further.
- The FDA has already banned certain synthetic dyes like Citrus Red No. 2 and Orange B and is working to phase out others, increasing pressure on manufacturers to find viable natural alternatives.
