Overview
- Mars will debut a naturally colored, dye-free M&M pack in August as an Amazon-limited release that includes four colors—red, orange, yellow and green—outlets reported Tuesday.
- The company omitted blue because the only viable natural option, spirulina, requires far more pigment, raises costs and gums high-speed mixing equipment, and brown could not be reproduced without a touch of blue.
- Executives debated delaying until a full natural rainbow was possible but pressed ahead with a partial roll-out after board review and set a goal to recreate blue and brown by 2028.
- Disney has not confirmed any changes to Main Street Confectionery or the M&M's Store, but if the new formulation becomes standard in retail the parks' signature candy walls could temporarily lose their blue and brown jars.
- The shift follows the FDA's 2025 move to ban Red Dye No. 3 with a January 2027 phase-out deadline, a regulatory push that has driven major food makers to pursue natural color reformulations.