Mars, Inc. to Remove all Artificial Colors from Food

As food consumers are evolving and becoming more aware of their health, Mars, Inc. (a food manufacturer ) decided to remove all artificial colors from their human food. More than 50 products will be altered such as Skittles, M&Ms, and Snickers.

M&Ms and many more candies are about to face a major change

Although there are no pieces of evidence that artificial colors cause negative changes for humans, “consumers today are calling on food manufacturers to use more natural ingredients in their products,” says Mars, Inc.. The company is working hard to ensure that the colors of the beloved candies will be just as vibrant, and will be seeing changes over the course of five years. The CEO of Mars, Grant F. Reid says, “Eliminating all artificial colors from our human food portfolio is a massive undertaking, and one that will take time and hard work to accomplish.”

Eliminating artificial colors from their foods was a hug step – let’s take a look at the ingredient list of one of Mars, Inc.’s products, M&Ms:

MILK CHOCOLATE (SUGAR, CHOCOLATE, SKIM MILK, COCOA BUTTER, LACTOSE, MILKFAT, SOY LECITHIN, SALT, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR), SUGAR, CORNSTARCH, LESS THAN 1% – CORN SYRUP, DEXTRIN, COLORING (INCLUDES BLUE 1 LAKE, YELLOW 6, RED 40, YELLOW 5, BLUE 1, RED 40 LAKE, BLUE 2 LAKE, YELLOW 6 LAKE, BLUE 2), GUM ACACIA.

In just M&Ms, there are 9 artificial colors! Although getting rid of 9 artificial colors is a major improvement, there are still artificial flavors left. To begin, what even are artificial flavors, and what are they made of?

Artificial flavors are chemicals that come from inedible sources and are processed to taste like a certain flavor. The flavor can be made from anything like petroleum (a mixture present in gasoline) to paper pulp.

In addition to the artificial flavors, there are also highly processed ingredients such as soy lecithin, and dextrin, and corn syrup.

To make soy lecithin, soybean oil is extracted from the raw soybeans using chemicals. Then, water is mixed with the soy oil until the lecithin (mixture of phospholipids and oils) separates from the oil. After, the lecithin is dried and is sometimes bleached using hydrogen peroxide.

Dextrin is a starch and is prepared by first heating and drying starch. Then, it is treated with hydrochloric acid to produce a powder used for binding.

As many know, corn syrup is a very bad ingredient that goes through an immense amount of processing – too much to write! (If you are curious to learn about the manufacturing of corn syrup, visit this link: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-4/Corn-Syrup.html)

Mars, Inc, has definitely proven that food corporations can change, but hopefully, sooner than later, they will go one healthier step forward, and eliminate their artificial flavors as well.

Works Consulted

“Corn Syrup.” How Corn Syrup Is Made. N.p., 2016. Web. 15 Feb. 2016.

Kresser, Chris. “Harmful or Harmless: Soy Lecithin.” Chris Kresser. N.p., 25 Oct. 2013. Web. 15 Feb. 2016.

“Mars, Incorporated to Remove All Artificial Colors from Its Human Food Portfolio.” PR Newswire. Mars, Incorporated, 05 Feb. 2016. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.

“M&Ms Nutrition.” M&Ms. M&Ms, 2015. Web. 15 Feb. 2016.

“New Processing Technology for Dextrin Manufacturing.” Technifax (n.d.): n. pag. Little Ford. Web. 15 Feb. 2016.

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