A legal settlement was signed by Kellogg’s and the Texas attorney general.
WK Kellogg is the first company to commit in a legal agreement to removing artificial dyes from its products, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Aug. 13.
“I’m proud to officially say Kellogg’s will stop putting these unhealthy ingredients in its cereals,” Paxton, a Republican, said in a statement.
Studies have linked the artificial dyes to health problems, including hyperactivity.
Kellogg’s produces a variety of cereals, including Froot Loops and Frosted Flakes. They currently contain dyes such as Red 40 and Yellow 5.
Paxton began investigating Kellogg’s earlier this year for possibly violating state law by advertising cereals as healthy even though they contain the additives.
“There will be accountability for any company, including Kellogg’s, that unlawfully makes misrepresentations about its food and contributes to a broken health system that has made Americans less healthy,” Paxton said in a statement in April.
The investigation led to an assurance of voluntary compliance, a legal document that certifies that the company is committed to removing artificial colorings from its cereals by the end of 2027.
A spokesperson for Kellogg’s told The Epoch Times in an email on Aug. 14 that the company appreciates the chance to work with the office of the Texas attorney general.
The spokesperson confirmed that Kellogg’s will remove the artificial dyes from its products by the end of 2027.
“We see the growing focus on health as an opportunity to meet consumer needs in even more meaningful ways,” the spokesperson said.
The company has said that 85 percent of its cereal sales contain no artificial dyes, and that it long ago removed Red No. 3, which federal regulators in January said they were banning.
Regulators later banned two additional dyes—Citrus Red No. 2 and Orange B. They stopped short of banning the other allowed artificial colors, saying they wanted to work with companies to voluntarily remove them.
After the announcement, on April 28, a Kellogg’s spokesperson told The Epoch Times that it was reformulating its cereals served in schools so that they would not contain the dyes, and that it would not launch any new products with the dyes starting in January 2026.
At the time, the company also said it was working with federal officials to figure out ways to “effectively remove” dyes from the products that still contain them, but did not commit to a timeline for the removal.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said during a meeting in March that featured an executive from Kellogg’s that companies have two years to remove the dyes.
