Walmart has pledged to remove artificial colourings from its private-label food and drinks ranges sold in the US.
The second largest retailer in the US behind Amazon said synthetic dyes will disappear from its Great Value, Marketside, Freshness Guaranteed and Bettergoods own-label brands by January 2027, “at the latest”.
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Walmart, which generated sales in the US of $462.4bn in fiscal 2025, said in a statement the move is “in line with evolving customer preferences and in support of a more transparent food system”, adding that 90% of its private-label food products are already free of synthetic dyes.
In the wider context, many US packaged food manufacturers have made commitments to eliminate artificial colourings by 2027 under urgings from the Trump administration as part of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) campaign led by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
However, as food companies exercise reformulation strategies, Walmart has made an additional pledge to remove 30 ingredients from the same own-label ranges, including “certain preservatives, artificial sweeteners, and fat substitutes”.
A list of the ingredients to be removed was linked to Walmart’s statement, chemical names that are likely to be unfamiliar to many consumers who are said to be paying more attention to food labels.
John Furner, president and CEO of Walmart’s business in the US, said: “Our customers have told us that they want products made with simpler, more familiar ingredients – and we’ve listened.
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By GlobalData“By eliminating synthetic dyes and other ingredients, we’re reinforcing our promise to deliver affordable food that families can feel good about.”
Titanium dioxide is one of the targeted ingredients, an inorganic compound used as a colouring and food additive. The oxidizing agent potassium bromate is another, typically used in bread applications. Advantame, a sweetener and flavour enhancer, also features on the list.
Citing a Walmart survey conducted this year, the retailer said 62% of its customers want “more transparency” for the food products they buy, while 54% said they “review food ingredients”.
Walmart added it launched the Bettergoods range last year to address such needs, with some of the products being plant-based and free-from certain ingredients it did not name.
The retailer said the reformulation programme will start to bear some fruit for customers in the “coming months” as it collaborates with its private-label suppliers to “adjust formulations and source alternative ingredients”.
Meanwhile, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has created a rolling commentary of which US and international CPG companies have made pledges to remove FD&C colours, synthetic dyes for food, drugs, and cosmetics previously approved by the government agency.
Kraft Heinz, PepsiCo, Tyson Foods, WK Kellogg and Hershey are named, while Nestlé and Danone feature among the overseas companies.
Earlier this year, the FDA announced plans to ban the use of the so-called Red 3 food colouring additive in food, supplements and ingestible drugs, urging food manufacturers to reformulate products by mid-January 2027.
The FDA then followed up with phasing out measures for petroleum-based synthetic food dyes targeted for the end of 2026.
