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Walmart U.S. moves to eliminate synthetic dyes across all private brand foods

corporate.walmart.com

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Re: Walmart U.S. moves to eliminate synthetic dyes across all private brand foods

#81

Post by ethersteeds »

pfexec wrote: post #53
fabian2k wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want these decisions to be bases on scientific and medical data, not on gut feeling or unfounded personal belief. I have no issue with regulating specific dyes or additives in food, or groups of related chemicals. And your anecdote is not scientific data. You cannot draw any conclusions from that.

[flagged]

I know this feels cut and dry to you, but what you're kicking is a fundamental pillar of the industrial food system. Many food products emerge from processing a dull or unappetizing color. Food needs to last as long as possible and still look like food. It's tempting to say that food should all be made with love in home kitchens, but that's untenable for feeding 8 billion people.

My favorite example of this is orange juice. OJ is kept in long term storage to stretch a seasonal crop into year-round availability. What comes out is brown and flavorless! This brown mush is restored to something a person would drink with the addition of "flavor packs" made by the perfume industry. This has the added benefit of giving brands a consistent and repeatable flavor. Regulatory bodies in their wisdom allow this product to be called "100% juice".

You might say well get rid of that too. I'm not arguing this is the ideal food system. But it has to be said, this goes a lot deeper than the easy ones like frosting and fruit loops.

Re: Walmart U.S. moves to eliminate synthetic dyes across all private brand foods

#82

Post by AnimalMuppet »

KolibriFly wrote: post #57
fabian2k wrote: post #5

My understanding is that there are somewhat more restrictive regulations on food dyes in the EU compared to the US. But that overall there isn't a big concern about the majority of these dyes. There also isn't a fundamental difference between a synthetic and a natural dye. Okay, humans are more likely to have encountered a natural dye during their evolution and adapted to ingesting them. But that is unlikely to matte…

I think Walmart's move probably isn't about toxicology as much as it is about consumer perception

Probably. It's still interesting that Walmart perceives consumer perception to be shifting against synthetic dyes.

Re: Walmart U.S. moves to eliminate synthetic dyes across all private brand foods

#84

Post by [deleted] »

ethersteeds wrote: post #81
pfexec wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I know this feels cut and dry to you, but what you're kicking is a fundamental pillar of the industrial food system. Many food products emerge from processing a dull or unappetizing color. Food needs to last as long as possible and still look like food. It's tempting to say that food should all be made with love in home kitchens, but that's untenable for feeding 8 billion people. My favorite example of this is orange…

[deleted]

Re: Walmart U.S. moves to eliminate synthetic dyes across all private brand foods

#86

Post by giancarlostoro »

syntaxing wrote: post #40
giancarlostoro wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You will eat the bugs...

I have some bad news for you if that bothers you https://www.livescience.com/36292-red-food-dye-bugs-cochinea... . That’s where “natural” dye comes from

Interesting read! At least it's not cockroaches. The bugs look like raspberries funnily enough.

Re: Walmart U.S. moves to eliminate synthetic dyes across all private brand foods

#87

Post by Retric »

greygoo222 wrote: post #79
Retric wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t recall the exact number, but well over half that have been in common use were eventually banned. Edit Prior to this administration: Butter yellow, Green 1, Green 2, Orange 1, Orange 2, Orange B, Red 1, Red 2, Red 4, Red 32, Sudan 1, Violet 1, Yellow 1, Yellow 2, Yellow 3, Yellow 4 + some more in the really early days. EU had a longer list including Titanium dioxide.

Titanium dioxide is naturally occurring.

The poster was using the phrase natural dye.

It’s a naturally occurring non organic molecule, but it’s not naturally a white pigment. It takes a lot of processing to get that brilliant white powder and as such it’s not something our ancestors dealt with.

Re: Walmart U.S. moves to eliminate synthetic dyes across all private brand foods

#88

Post by hollerith »

greygoo222 wrote: post #79
Retric wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t recall the exact number, but well over half that have been in common use were eventually banned. Edit Prior to this administration: Butter yellow, Green 1, Green 2, Orange 1, Orange 2, Orange B, Red 1, Red 2, Red 4, Red 32, Sudan 1, Violet 1, Yellow 1, Yellow 2, Yellow 3, Yellow 4 + some more in the really early days. EU had a longer list including Titanium dioxide.

Titanium dioxide is naturally occurring.

It is not naturally occurring in the human diet.

Re: Walmart U.S. moves to eliminate synthetic dyes across all private brand foods

#89

Post by Freedom2 »

Workaccount2 wrote: post #69
brynet wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that I'm aware of.. The product I tested was after 2017 is still advertised here in Canada with natural colours, made with fruit juices. The US parent company is also committing to it as well. https://www.wkkellogg.com/our-impact/make-eating-well-easy/q...

Sorry, it was actually general mills who did this. https://www.fooddive.com/news/silly-general-mills-artificial...

Was it just the US who enjoyed brighter, shinier and arguably "faker" things, or did other countries also experience sales drops when other brands removed artificial coloring?

I'm curious (as in HN curious discussion) whether this points to something greater about US culture.

Re: Walmart U.S. moves to eliminate synthetic dyes across all private brand foods

#90

Post by psunavy03 »

alrs wrote: post #25
psunavy03 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But this is likely also an attempt to market to people who think things like "but I don't want to be exposed to chemicals" while not realizing water is a chemical.

This is the kind of nerd-snark that makes normal people not trust anything from the mouths of "experts." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovKw6YjqSfM

The point is it's totally possible for some artificial dyes to potentially be harmful and need to be regulated, but eliminating them all just because they're "artificial" is woo-woo nonsense on the same order as my deliberately parodic example.

Know what else is artificial? Insulin and penicillin.

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