M&M's Dye-Free Relaunch: Why Blue and Brown Are Getting Left Behind

Mars is preparing to debut a naturally colored version of M&M's this August, timed to the candy's 85th anniversary, as part of a broader industry shift away from artificial food dyes. But the rollout comes with a catch: two of the six classic colors, blue and brown, won't be part of the new lineup.

The decision highlights just how complicated it has become for major food companies to replace synthetic dyes with plant-based alternatives, especially when it comes to matching a shade as recognizable as M&M's blue.

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The Blue Problem

Mars has had relatively little trouble recreating red and yellow using natural sources like beet and turmeric extracts. Turmeric in particular is cheap and widely available, often costing under $11 per pound in bulk.

Blue is a different story. The company settled on spirulina, a concentrated blue-green algae extract, as its best natural substitute for the artificial dye Blue 1. The problem is that spirulina needs to be used in much larger quantities than synthetic dye to produce the same color intensity, and the concentrated form suited for food use can run upward of $100 per pound.

Beyond cost, spirulina's thick, foamy consistency has caused real production headaches. It has reportedly clogged spray nozzles and left behind a film buildup inside manufacturing equipment, a residue that can eventually lead to mold and create food-safety concerns. Because Mars's brown M&M's rely on blue pigment to get their color, the same issue effectively rules out brown as well.

Claire Hewitt, the Mars executive leading the reformulation project and described as the company's "chief color officer," told the Wall Street Journal it has been the most difficult task of her career.

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Millions Spent, Hundreds of Machines

The scale of the effort underscores how seriously Mars is treating the shift. More than 100 employees have worked on the project across the company's facilities, and Mars expects to need upgrades to over 300 machines, including new mixing tanks, paddles, and motors, to handle spirulina at production scale. Cleaning the updated equipment will also require hotter water and more time than before.

Anton Vincent, who leads Mars's North American snacks division, called the replacement effort a daunting situation, noting the difficulty of altering an 85-year-old icon.

Facing the cost and complexity of a true six-color natural lineup, Mars reportedly considered launching with just three colors, red, orange, and yellow, before deciding the result looked too monochrome and settling on a four-color version instead. Purple and pink were also tested as possible substitutes but didn't make the cut.

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The MAHA Connection

The reformulation is tied directly to the Make America Healthy Again movement led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has repeatedly pushed food manufacturers to eliminate petroleum-based dyes. His office has pointed to animal studies linking certain artificial dyes to behavioral issues and cancer risk, and has formally revoked FDA authorization for several dyes, including Red Dye No. 3, citing the Delaney Clause, which requires the agency to ban substances shown to cause cancer in humans or animals.

Mars is one of 27 companies that have pledged to HHS to remove artificial dyes from at least some of their products. Kennedy has also pressured companies to phase out six additional dyes: Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Blue 2, and Green 3.

This isn't Mars's first attempt at going dye-free. The company announced similar plans back in 2016 but reversed course after concluding that customers weren't particularly bothered by artificial coloring in occasional treats. The renewed MAHA pressure appears to have changed that calculation.

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What's Next

When the naturally colored M&M's launch in August, they'll be sold exclusively through Amazon, while the traditional, artificially dyed version will remain on shelves everywhere else. Mars has set a longer-term goal of recreating all six classic colors using natural ingredients by 2028, though getting blue and brown right may prove to be the hardest part of that timeline.

Food companies broadly have defended dyes as safe under existing regulatory approval, even as consumer and political pressure pushes more brands toward natural alternatives. For now, M&M's fans will have two versions to choose from, one familiar, one missing a couple of old friends.