“Today we take a major step to Make America Healthy Again,” says Kennedy. "For too long, our food system has relied on synthetic, petroleum-based dyes that offer no nutritional value and pose unnecessary health risks. We’re removing these dyes and approving safe, natural alternatives—to protect families and support healthier choices.”

Since the HHS and FDA announcement last month during a press conference at HHS on petroleum-based food dyes, more U.S. food manufacturers have committed to removing them within the FDA’s set time frame of the end of next year.

“On April 22, I said the FDA would soon approve several new color additives and would accelerate our review of others. I’m pleased to report that promises made, have been promises kept,” says FDA Commissioner Martin A. Makary, M.D., M.P.H. “FDA staff have been moving quickly to expedite the publication of these decisions, underscoring our serious intent to transition away from petroleum-based dyes in the food supply and provide new colors from natural sources.”

The color additive petitions approved are for:

• Galdieria extract blue, a blue color derived from the unicellular red algae Galdieria sulphuraria. The FDA has approved the color additive for use in breakfast cereal coatings, hard candy, soft candy and chewing gum, gelatin desserts, puddings and custards, and more. The petition was submitted by the French company Fermentalg.
• Butterfly pea flower extract, a blue color that reportedly can be used to achieve a range of shades including bright blues, intense purple, and natural greens. Produced through the water extraction of the dried flower petals of the butterfly pea plant, this color additive is already approved for use in gums, candy, coated nuts, and more. The approval of a petition by St. Louis-based Sensient Colors LLC expands the approved use for coloring ready-to-eat cereals, crackers, snack mixes, hard pretzels, plain potato chips (restructured or baked), plain corn chips, tortilla chips, and multigrain chips.
• Calcium phosphate, a white color approved for use in white candy melts, doughnut sugar, sugar for coated candies, and more. The petition was filed by Innophos Inc. of Cranbury, NJ.

Under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (Chapter VII, section 721), color additives are subject to FDA approval to determine whether they are safe before they may be used in food. The FDA determines whether an additive is safe to use by considering the projected human dietary exposure to the color additive, the additive’s toxicological data, and other relevant information, such as published literature. Once the FDA approves a color additive petition, any manufacturer can use the coloring for the approved uses.

Related: Experts react to impending ban of petroleum-based food dyes