Days after administration officials announced their plan to phase out use of synthetic food dyes, PepsiCo chair and chief executive officer Ramon Laguarta said his company is already making efforts to transition away from artificial ingredients.
Laguarta said the company’s products are “very safe” but acknowledged the increasing consumer demand for natural ingredients.
“We’ve been leading the transformation of the industry now for a long time on sodium reduction, sugar reduction and better fats,” Laguarta said in an April 24 conference call with analysts on PepsiCo’s fiscal 2025 first-quarter results. The Purchase, NY-based company’s food businesses include Frito-Lay and Quaker Foods, now combined into PepsiCo Foods North America.
“When we talk about the US food business, 60%-plus of our (portfolio) today doesn’t have any artificial colors, so we’re undergoing that transition,” he said. “For example, brands like Lay’s will be out of artificial colors by the end of this year, and the same with Tostitos — some of our big brands. So we’re well underway.” (Food Business News)
Laguarta said in the next couple of years the company will have either switched its portfolio completely to natural colors or at least provide consumers with natural color options.
“Every consumer will have the opportunity to choose what they prefer,” he noted. “So that’s the journey we’re undergoing.”
The comments came days after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary announced the administration's efforts to improve the nation's food supply.
🚨HHS RFK Jr. following the announcement of the FDA taking action to remove petroleum-based food dyes from the U.S. food supply and from medications:
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 22, 2025
“When I met with—and I want to commend the food companies for working with us... I was talking to my staff about these… pic.twitter.com/YXiuBmLZkK
"For the last 50 years, American children have increasingly been living in a toxic soup of synthetic chemicals," said Makary. "Taking petroleum-based food dyes out of the food supply is not a silver bullet that will instantly make America's children healthy, but it is one important step."