M&M's to drop blue and brown candies in dye-free summer launch
Mars announced that its M&M's brand will discontinue blue and brown varieties as it introduces a dye-free line this August, citing cost and formulation challenges.
Mars Inc. said its M&M's brand will launch a version of the candy without artificial dyes in August, coinciding with the product's 85th anniversary. The new formulation will exclude the blue and brown pieces that have been part of the lineup for years.
The company told the Wall Street Journal that natural alternatives for those colors would be prohibitively expensive. Blue, added to the range in 1995, relies on spirulina, an algae-based pigment that requires much larger quantities to achieve the same intensity, and the same issue affected the brown shade.
"It was a daunting situation," said Anton Vincent, president of Mars Snacking, North America and Global Ice Cream.
"It’s the hardest thing I’ve had to do in my career," added Mars executive Claire Hewitt.
Mars had previously pledged in 2016 to remove artificial dyes but later reversed that decision after market research indicated limited consumer concern. The move aligns with recent calls from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for food companies to eliminate synthetic colorants.