The company says its entire U.S. cereal portfolio is now made without certified colors, with the rest of its retail products set to follow by the end of 2027
Credit: General Mills
NEED TO KNOW
- General Mills announced that all of its U.S. cereals are now made without certified colors, including Lucky Charms and Trix
- The change extends across brands like Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cocoa Puffs, Chex, Wheaties and Reese’s Puffs
- General Mills says 90% of its U.S. retail portfolio has completed the transition and plans to remove certified colors from the remainder by the end of 2027
General Mills has officially said goodbye to artificial colors in its cereal aisle.
On Wednesday, Aug. 26, the food giant announced that all of its cereals sold in the U.S. are now made without certified colors.
The change extends across the company’s cereal portfolio, which includes colorful favorites Lucky Charms and Trix, plus Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cocoa Puffs, Chex, Wheaties, Reese’s Puffs, Kix and the seasonal Monster Cereals, among others.
Credit: General Mills
This completes a milestone General Mills set for summer 2026 and comes months after the company removed certified colors from all of its foods served in K-12 schools in March.
“As the leader in cereal, General Mills is focused on giving people what they are looking for from the brands they know and love,” Bethany Quam, president of Big G Cereal at General Mills, said in a statement.
“This achievement reflects how we are evolving with consumer needs while continuing to offer food that tastes great, delivers quality and provides value,” she added.
Credit: Tiffany Hagler-Geard/Bloomberg via Getty
Rather than synthetic dyes, General Mills is using colors derived from sources including fruits and vegetables, as well as spices such as turmeric and paprika, to maintain the familiar hues of its cereals.
The company previously tried removing artificial colors from Trix in 2015, but reversed course two years later after consumers complained about the cereal’s more muted appearance.
This time, the cereal overhaul is part of a much larger effort across General Mills’ products. The company says 90% of its U.S. retail portfolio is now made without certified colors and plans to eliminate them from the remainder by the end of 2027.
That transition will include products such as fruit snacks and baking mixes, some of which still contain synthetic dyes.
General Mills said it is also expanding its offerings to meet changing consumer preferences, with plans to launch more than twice as many new products aligned with those preferences this fiscal year as it did two years ago. Those include additional products with protein and fiber, as well as foods featuring what the company describes as more familiar ingredients.
The changes come amid mounting pressure on food manufacturers to move away from synthetic dyes.
In April 2025, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and then-FDA Commissioner Marty Makary announced an effort to phase out remaining petroleum-based synthetic food dyes in the U.S. The FDA has said approved food dyes are safe for most children, while acknowledging that some children may be sensitive to them.
General Mills isn’t the only major cereal maker changing its recipes.
Earlier this month, WK Kellogg Co. announced that it plans to eliminate artificial colors from all of its cereals by the end of 2026, accelerating its previous timeline by a year.
The company said cereals including Froot Loops and Apple Jacks will instead get their signature colors from natural sources, including fruit and vegetable juices and other plant-based ingredients. The reformulated cereals are expected to begin shipping to distributors before the end of the year.
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“We conducted extensive consumer testing to make sure these recipes deliver the great taste consumers want while maintaining the original rainbow of colors — red, orange, yellow, green, purple and blue — that fans of Froot Loops and other colorful cereals have come to love,” Doug VanDeVelde, WK Kellogg’s chief growth officer, said in a statement.
“It wasn’t easy but we identified natural solutions for every color,” he added, “and we’re confident families will love the updated recipes and simplified ingredients without compromising on quality or taste.”
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