Kraft Inc. has announced they would be removing three artificial dyes from their macaroni and cheese products.
Triona Schmelter, Kraft's vice president of marketing for meals, told the Associated Press the company was "looking to improve the nutritional profiles of the three macaroni and cheese varieties more broadly."
The new recipes will also contain whole gains, reduced sodium and saturated fat. Kraft confirmed the ingredient change will not after the "original flavor" of their food, but rather make a "better" product for their consumers.
"We'll continue to make improvement where we can," Schmelter said.
Schmelter did not mention if Kraft will make changes to other products, but noted the company has macaroni and cheese products with "natural colors."
The ingredient change was not a result of a Change.org petition, asking Kraft to remove artificial dyes from their macaroni and cheese kits.
"Kraft Macaroni and Cheese in the US contains the artificial food dyes Yellow 5 and Yellow 6," the petition states. "These unnecessary - yet potentially harmful - dyes are not in Kraft Macaroni and Cheese in other countries, including the UK, because they were removed due to consumer outcry. Kraft reformulated their product for the UK, but not for their fellow American citizens."
"Kraft Foods is the largest food company headquartered in the United States," the petition adds. "If Kraft changes their Macaroni and Cheese, we know this could inspire other food companies across the US to finally eliminate dangerous artificial food dyes once and for all."
As of Friday, the petition has 348, 731 signatures, needing about 150,000 more to create the change.
The updated Kraft macaroni and cheese recipes will reportedly begin shipping in 2014, according to the Associated Press. The company plans replace artificial dies with to spices such as paprika for coloring.
Is eliminating three artificial colorings enough to make Kraft products "better" for the consumer? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.
