(NewsNation) — M&M’s is embracing the “Make America Healthy Again” movement with a new product set to launch this summer.
The iconic brand will introduce a version of its candies made without artificial dyes beginning in August, as it marks its 85th anniversary.
However, the change comes with a tradeoff: M&M’s plans to eliminate its blue and brown candies from the lineup.
Mars told The Wall Street Journal the colors could not be recreated with natural ingredients at a reasonable cost.
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“It was a daunting situation,” said Anton Vincent, president of Mars Snacking, North America and Global Ice Cream. “You’re messing with an 85-year-old icon.”
Researchers were able to replicate other colors using natural ingredients, but blue — introduced in 1995 — proved more difficult, in part due to reliance on spirulina, an algae-based pigment.
The ingredient requires significantly more material to achieve the same color intensity and also contributed to challenges in producing brown candies.
“It’s the hardest thing I’ve had to do in my career,” Mars executive Claire Hewitt said.
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Mars explored replacing blue and brown with purple and pink or shifting to a three-color mix, but ultimately decided against those options.
The company had pledged in 2016 to remove artificial dyes from its products but later reversed course after determining customers were not concerned.
More recently, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has urged U.S. food companies to eliminate artificial dyes.
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