Mars, the maker of M&M's, said it will launch a new U.S. version of the candy in August without artificial food dyes. The rollout comes as the brand marks its 85th anniversary and as the "Make America Healthy Again" trend pushes food companies to reduce synthetic ingredients.
The change, however, comes with a tradeoff. Mars said it will remove two colors long associated with M&M's, blue and brown, because it could not reproduce those shades with natural ingredients at a cost that would work for large-scale commercial production. "It was a challenging and intimidating situation," said Anton Vincent, president of Mars' North America Snacking division and global ice cream division. "You're dealing with an 85-year-old icon."
The company said the blue coating, added in 1995 after a public vote, proved especially difficult to duplicate. Researchers were able to recreate other colors naturally, but blue relied heavily on spirulina, an algae-derived pigment that would require much larger quantities to achieve the same intensity. That also created complications for making the brown candies, according to the company.
"This is the hardest thing I have had to do in my career," said Claire Hewitt, a senior Mars executive. The move reflects a broader shift in the global food industry, where large manufacturers are increasingly trying to replace artificial additives with natural ones under growing consumer and regulatory pressure.
