Walmart has announced its plans to remove synthetic food dyes and 30 other ingredients, including some preservatives, artificial sweeteners and fat substitutes, from its store brands sold in the United States by January 2027.
The nation’s largest retailer said the 14-month reformulation plan would primarily involve its largest private-label food brand, Great Value.
Customers also can expect changes in Walmart’s Marketside and Freshness Guaranteed lines of prepared foods, and to some extent in its premium label Bettergoods products.
The overhaul is set to affect about 1,000 products, including salty snacks, baked goods, power drinks, salad dressings and frostings.
Several of the ingredients on Walmart’s removal list have already been banned, are not widely used or have not been used in the US food supply for decades.
Others are those that have been targeted by the Trump administration for review and possible elimination as an approved food additive, like synthetic food dyes, preservatives and emulsifiers.
The action represents a ‘sweeping declaration and a considerable response to consumer demand and sentiment’ for fewer additives in food, said Brian Ronholm, director of food policy for the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports.
‘This is a good and well-thought-out list and represents a very positive step, especially considering the reach their private label brands have in US households,’ Ronholm said in a statement.
Walmart has announced that it plans to remove synthetic food dyes and 30 other ingredients, including some preservatives, artificial sweeteners and fat substitutes, from its store brands sold in the United States by January 2027
In recent months, major food companies such as Kraft Heinz, Nestle and Conagra Brands have pledged to eliminate petroleum-based synthetic dyes in coming years.
Walmart took its news a step further by identifying other kinds of food additives in its phase-out timeline.
The chemicals and compounds the discount retailer intends to eliminate encompass the breadth of food manufacturing.
Walmart’s list includes potassium nitrate, potassium nitrite and potassium bisulfite, which are used as preservatives in processed meats, as well as the artificial sweeteners advantame and neotame.
Many of the items on Walmart’s list have raised concerns about potential health effects ‘for a long time,’ said Thomas Galligan, a scientist who focuses on food additives for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an advocacy group.
Those include synthetic dyes, titanium dioxide, azodicarbonamide, propylparaben, potassium bromate and phthalates, a chemical used to make plastic flexible.
These compounds are commonly found in processed foods, cosmetics, or plastics, and some have been banned or restricted in certain countries due to health concerns.
For instance, synthetic food dyes like Red 40 and Yellow 5 have been linked to hyperactivity in children, allergic reactions, and possible cancer risk in animal studies, while titanium dioxide may cause gut inflammation and has been classified as a possible human carcinogen when inhaled.
Some of the 11 artificial food dyes detailed by Walmart are already banned, proposed to be banned or haven’t been used for years, including Red No. 4, Red No. 3 , Citrus Red No. 2 and Orange B.
Red No. 3 was banned in the United States in January 2025 from food, oral drugs, and dietary supplements, due to its link to thyroid cancer in lab rats.
The FDA had previously banned Red No. 3 from cosmetics and externally applied drugs in 1990.
Meanwhile, the government agency is planning revoke authorization for two synthetic food colorings – Citrus Red No. 2 and Orange B – within the coming months.
It is also working with the food industry to eliminate six remaining synthetic dyes – Green No. 3,Red No. 40, Yellow No. 5, Yellow No. 6, Blue No. 1, and Blue No. 2 – from the supply chain by the end of next year.
Walmart also listed simplesse, a fat substitute that was phased out of the US food market in 2023, and synthetic trans fatty acids, or trans fats, which the FDA effectively phased out the same year by determining that partially hydrogenated oils no longer were recognized as safe.
Experts said some of Walmart’s choices were surprising.
Days before President Donald Trump returned to office, the FDA banned the dye called Red 3 from the nation’s food supply, nearly 35 years after it was barred from cosmetics because of potential cancer risk
Ronholm said he was not aware of problems related to toulene, anisole or morpholine, three other additives Walmart plans to eliminate from its foods.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest President Peter Lurie questioned the inclusion of talc on the retailer’s list.
Galligan said his agency considers advantame and neotame ‘to be safe.’
Overall, though, the initiative struck Galligan as a good commitment.
‘However, as with any voluntary effort, it is very easy for Walmart to make bold promises, but it is a lot harder for them to follow through,’ he said.
‘Many companies, including Walmart, have previously made and then broke promises similar to this, so until we see reformulated products on store shelves, this is all just talk.’
Walmart said the additives selected for banishment reflected the availability of ‘viable and scalable alternatives’ for maintaining product quality, taste and affordable pricing.
In June, Walmart’s wholesale club division, Sam’s Club, said it would remove more than 40 ingredients, including artificial colors and the artificial sweetener aspartame, from its Member’s Mark products by the end of the year.
Walmart shoppers also are likely to see reformulated food items in the coming months, the company said.
Among them: Great Value cheese dips made with paprika and annatto, a food coloring and spice that’s derived from the seeds of the achiote tree, in place of Yellow No. 5 and Yellow No. 6, Walmart said.
In the future, a new version of Great Value Fruit Spins Cereal will not get its colors from Red No. 40, Yellow No. 6 and Blue No. 2, but from beta carotene, annatto, blue-green spirulina and juice concentrates, according to Walmart.
The nation’s largest retailer said the 14-month reformulation plan primarily would involve its largest private-label food brand, Great Value
Scott Morris, Walmart’s senior vice president of private brands food, consumables, and manufacturing, told The Associated Press that 90 percent of Walmart’s private label foods already don’t contain synthetic dyes.
He said Wednesday’s news marks an acceleration of a process the company initiated in the last few years.
Customers have been asking Walmart to get rid of certain ingredients, but replacing them with more natural alternatives is complicated, Morris said.
The performance of the substitutes can vary significantly depending on whether a product is shelf stable or needs to be refrigerated, he said. New versions need to be vigorously taste-tested with customers, he added.
‘Every item’s a snowflake,’ Morris said. The main factor that prevented Walmart from overhauling its food shelves sooner was a limited availability of approved alternatives, but the market for those is increasing, he said.
‘Now’s the right time to make our declaration and be more broad with our application of the natural ingredients,’ Morris said.
The federal government is also giving artificial food dyes increased scrutiny.
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