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Atlantic
08-08-2025
- Health
- Atlantic
The Last Food Dye Standing
Last month, America's top health officials gathered in downtown Washington for an ice-cream party. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—joined by Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins—hunched over a cooler and served himself a scoop. Off to the side, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary licked a cone. There was a reason to celebrate: The dairy industry, like many of America's largest food makers, had acquiesced to the 'Make America Healthy Again' movement's crackdown on synthetic food dyes. The International Dairy Foods Association, a lobbying group, announced that more than 40 major ice-cream companies would begin phasing out several dyes that RFK Jr. has blamed for a slew of chronic-health problems, especially in children. 'I'm very grateful for this industry for stepping up,' Kennedy told onlookers. By the end of 2027, Hershey's birthday-cake ice cream won't have Yellow 5 or Red 40, nor will its 'blue moon' flavor have Blue 1. But your ice cream might still come with one particular artificial food dye: titanium dioxide, a chemical that turns food white and isn't included in the International Dairy Foods Association's 'Ice Cream Commitment.' (Yes, the milk in ice cream already is white to begin with, but titanium dioxide helps keep some ice cream with added ingredients from looking like the muddied leftover milk in a bowl of cereal.) Titanium dioxide is added to many other foods, too, including salad dressings, low-fat milks, and soups. So far, the chemical seems to be largely surviving the food-dye purge. Many companies—including Kraft Heinz and General Mills—don't mention titanium dioxide in their promises to replace similar dyes. (Neither company responded to multiple requests for comment.) You might be eating more titanium dioxide than you think. Even food that isn't white might contain it. The chemical is commonly used as a base layer—kind of like primer on a wall—to make brightly colored products pop. It's not always named as an ingredient in foods that are made with the dye. Other synthetic dyes, such as Red 40 and Yellow 5, which are made from petroleum, must be disclosed on a product's nutrition label. (That's also true for several other dyes that end in a number.) The FDA, however, allows food companies to simply label titanium dioxide as an 'artificial color,' given that technically titanium is a mineral. Food makers argue that this distinction demonstrates that titanium dioxide is not like other dyes. The International Dairy Foods Association told me that it's 'focused on removing certified artificial colors' when I asked whether the group's pledge included titanium dioxide. A spokesperson for the Consumer Brands Association, a major lobbying group that recently announced a food-dye pledge of its own, similarly said that the numbered dyes 'are a unique subset.' Whether people really should fret about titanium dioxide while licking an ice-cream cone is a contentious question. In 2022, the European Union banned the dye over concerns that tiny particles in the product could build up in the body and damage DNA. But the decision wasn't based on clear evidence that links the chemical to specific ailments. Rather, European officials identified 'some data gaps and uncertainties' about the dye's health impacts, and acted out of an abundance of caution. The evidence against titanium dioxide isn't much different from that against other artificial dyes. Food makers have stopped using the numbered dyes based solely on preliminary science. Prior to Kennedy's confirmation, many of the same organizations that are now touting the food industry's efforts to remove synthetic dyes were arguing that requests to ban these ingredients were scientifically flawed. In 2023, the Consumer Brands Association, alongside two other trade groups, argued that the FDA should not ban Red 3, because the science around its health harms was unconvincing. Kennedy has indic ate d that he does want to phase out titanium dioxide along with other synthetic dyes, pointing to the European ban. Titanium dioxide is listed as a food additive of concern in a report on childhood chronic disease recently released by the Trump administration's MAHA Commission. ('HHS takes the safety of food ingredients seriously and will continue to review available evidence and expert guidance on this and other additives,' a Health and Human Services spokesperson told me in an email.) MAHA has had some victories when it comes to titanium dioxide. At the end of last year, the food giant Mars removed the chemical from Skittles. The ice-cream company Turkey Hill, which joined the dairy industry's dye pledge, is in the process of purging its products of titanium dioxide, a spokesperson said. (The company did not respond after I asked when that transition would be complete.) A representative for PepsiCo told me that the company is phasing out titanium dioxide in the one product it sells that includes the chemical: Muscle Milk. But many more companies that are replacing other artificial food dyes have been quiet about titanium dioxide. The food industry is reluctant to give the chemical up for a reason. It's remarkably efficient as a food dye—nothing else comes close to its ability to turn food white. (No wonder versions of the chemical are also used in house paint.) The main replacement is calcium carbonate, also known as chalk, which is much less opaque, and so food companies would need to use much more of it to get the same whitening effect. This could not only make products more expensive, it could impact the texture and taste of the underlying food. Some companies have successfully been able to reformulate their products: Skittles look the same as they always have. 'These reformulations are not easy and can sometimes take months to years to accomplish adequately,' Dave Schoneker, a food-dye consultant, told me. 'This ends up being a big investment.' Not every company will have a bench of food scientists able to spend years reformulating its products. Without titanium dioxide, consumers may just have to get used to uglier food. At one point while working on this story, I went to the grocery store and picked up two blue-cheese dressings—one with titanium dioxide and one without. The version with the additive looked like what I expected blue-cheese dressing to look like: pearly white. The other one looked a bit like grayish-green mucus. That's not a proposition that excites the food industry, nor is it something that companies seem to believe Americans can handle. As California prepared to become the first state to ban several food additives in 2023, titanium dioxide was removed from the legislation at the eleventh hour amid vocal opposition from food companies. Before caving to pressure, Mars had resisted calls for the company to stop using artificial dyes in sweets; instead, the company settled on doing so just in Europe, citing that it's where 'consumers have expressed this preference.' Indeed, European consumers are 'okay with muted tones,' Chari Rai, the head of innovation for North America at Oterra, a natural-color manufacturer, told me. "I think the difference in the U.S. market is they're just so used to seeing vibrant colors.' If the industry is correct and Kennedy cannot persuade Americans to embrace an ugly scoop of ice cream, that would signal he's going to have an even harder time pushing Americans away from foods containing the many other ingredients that he claims, with varying degrees of evidence, are making people sick. Food dyes are just cosmetic. (Ice cream still generally tastes the same with or without titanium dioxide.) Other food additives, such as emulsifiers and low-calorie sweeteners, serve a bigger role; ultra-processed foods, which Kennedy opposes, make up a sizable portion of the American diet. MAHA still has much bigger battles to fight.
Al Jazeera
25-07-2025
- Business
- Al Jazeera
Fact check: Did US go from ice cream trade surplus to deficit under Biden?
President Donald Trump's administration dished out a cold burn to Trump's ice-cream-loving predecessor, Joe Biden, saying he led the US ice cream industry down an economic rocky road. 'America had a trade surplus in ice cream in 2020 under President Trump's leadership, but that surplus turned into a trade deficit of $40.6 million under President Biden's watch,' the Office of the US Trade Representative wrote July 20 on X. The post included a chart that shows the US ice cream trade deficit with Japan, South Africa, the European Union, Brazil, Canada and Turkiye. The US ice cream trade balance did change dramatically in 2021, the year Biden took office. The trade balance officially flipped negative – which means imports outnumber exports – in 2022 and has remained so since then. But industry experts caution that US ice cream imports account for a minuscule fraction of all the US ice cream consumed in the US, and exports account for a tiny fraction of all US ice cream produced. The trade change was driven mostly by a jump in imports. Exports have remained largely unchanged since 2020. And the cherry on top? Disagreement over which products to classify as 'ice cream' also affects data, experts say. For example, the data referenced by the office of the US Trade Representative also includes 'edible ice', which some experts (and dairy defenders) say doesn't qualify as ice cream. Removing edible ice shows that 'the US is a net exporter by a significant margin of ($193 million) or +85% larger by value,' International Dairy Foods Association Executive Vice President Matt Herrick told PolitiFact via email. Ice cream imports increase causes US trade deficit From 1995 to 2020, the US had an ice cream trade surplus, ranging from about $20m to about $160m, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, an online economic data platform. Longtime customers include Mexico, followed by Saudi Arabia and Canada. In 2021, that surplus nearly vanished, and in 2022 and 2023, the US notched up an ice cream trade deficit of $92m and $33m, respectively. At first glance, importing frozen foods doesn't seem practical. 'Shipping refrigerated and frozen products overseas is expensive,' dairy economist Betty Berningat of HighGround Dairy said. 'Mexico is the top destination for US dairy exports.' But many US and European companies have tapped into global markets. 'Consumers may also want a specific treat that is styled after or known to be from another country,' Herrick said. Italy, the birthplace of gelato, is now the United States' largest single source of imported ice cream. Italian ice cream imports more than quintupled from about $12m to almost $65m between 2020 and 2021 alone, before decreasing somewhat in 2023, the last year for which data is available. Some of this stems from increased consumer demand for specialty pints. A report by Mordor Intelligence, a global market research firm, said 'product innovation and premiumisation' have become key in the US ice cream industry. 'This trend is particularly evident in the growth of premium pint offerings and individually wrapped novelties that cater to both indulgence and portion control preferences,' the report said. The US produces far more ice cream than it imports or exports To get to the pint: The vast majority of ice cream consumed in the United States is made there, not overseas. The Trump administration is cherry-picking stats from a fraction of a sliver of the US ice cream industry. According to US Agriculture Department data, US ice cream makers churned out 1.31 billion gallons of ice cream in 2024. This includes regular ice cream, low-fat and nonfat ice cream, sherbet and frozen yoghurt. By comparison, the US imported 2.35 million gallons of traditional ice cream in 2024 – that's 0.18 percent of the amount produced domestically, Herrick said. The US exported 16.4 million gallons of that domestic production, which is also a tiny fraction of 1.31 billion gallons of ice cream – a little more than 1 percent. Factoring in ice cream mixes, excluding 'edible ice' products Another caveat about the international trade data: It does not include 'mixes', which skews the totals, said Herrick of the International Dairy Foods Association. Mixes are used to make ice cream shakes and soft-serve products, and they account for a significant portion of US ice cream exports. 'Inclusion of such data points would change the picture quite significantly,' said Herrick. 'While it is true that traditional ice cream and edible ice exports have seen decreased exports, the same cannot be said for exports of mixes.' US milk-based drink exports increased 621 percent over the past five years, he said. In 2024, the US exported nearly $35m in mixes to the European Union. Americans and dairy-based ice cream: A centuries-old love affair melting away? The White House has churned out plenty of ice cream devotees. George Washington stocked the capital with ice cream-making equipment. Thomas Jefferson is credited as being the first American to record an ice cream recipe. Ronald Reagan declared July National Ice Cream Month in 1984. Barack Obama even slung scoops back in the day. Biden, who was often sighted with a cone in hand, proclaimed while visiting Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream headquarters in 2016: 'My name is Joe Biden, and I love ice cream.' But consumption of regular dairy ice cream – a category that does not include frozen yoghurt, sherbet or nonfat and low-fat ice creams – has been trending down for years. In 1975, Americans ate an average of 18.2 pounds each of ice cream per year. That figure fell to 11.7 pounds by 2023. Our ruling The office of the US Trade Representative purported a summertime scoop: 'America had a trade surplus in ice cream in 2020 under President Trump's leadership, but that surplus turned into a trade deficit of $40.6 million under President Biden's watch.' It's accurate that the US ice cream trade balance had a surplus for a quarter of a century before turning negative while Biden was president. But the US Trade Representative's statement makes the US ice cream deficit appear out of cone-trol. There are three scoops of context on this trade sundae: The change was driven mostly by a jump in imports. Exports have remained largely unchanged since 2020. US ice cream imports and exports are a negligible amount compared to domestic production. There's also disagreement over which products should or shouldn't be included in the data set, which can skew trend interpretations. Excluding edible ice products and factoring in ice cream mixes leaves the US with a surplus. The statement is accurate but needs a sprinkling of clarification and additional details, so we rate it Mostly True. Louis Jacobson contributed to this report.
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
RFK Jr. and ice cream makers say they're churning up healthier ice cream
WASHINGTON − A group of ice cream makers that produce 90% of the nation's ice cream and frozen dairy desserts are pledging to eliminate many artificial food dyes from their offerings by the end of 2027. The announcement, less than a week before the National Ice Cream Day on July 20, was made by the International Dairy Foods Association, a trade group for dairy companies, in conjunction with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has championed the cause through his Make America Healthy Again platform. Kennedy, who has long blamed chronic health problems, including obesity and heart disease, on the food industry, announced in April that eight artificial dyes will be phased out from medications and the nation's food supply by the end of 2026, including those found in candy, ice cream, soft drinks and jams. The voluntary effort will eliminate the use of certified artificial colors Red 3, Red 40, Green 3, Blue 1, Blue 2, Yellow 5 and Yellow 6. 'I applaud the International Dairy Foods Association for stepping up to eliminate certified artificial colors,' Kennedy said in a statement to USA TODAY. 'The American people have made it clear − they want real food, not chemicals.' The announcement July 14 was held outside the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and featured Agriculture Secretary Brook Rollins, Food and Drug Commissioner Martin A. Makary and dairy industry leaders. Kennedy also talked about partnering with the dairy industry to "elevate" dairy products to "improve the health of children" based on emerging science on the need for more protein and fats in American diets. "I grew up in a world where milk was the healthiest thing that you could eat. There's been an attack on whole milk and cheese and yogurt over the past couple of decades," said Kennedy, adding that the USDA and the HHS would be releasing new dietary guidelines in the "next several months." "There's tremendous amount of emerging science that talks about the need for more protein in our diet and more fats in our diet," he said. Makary echoed Kennedy's sentiment. "This is a renaissance moment in health in America," Makary said. "And part of that is rewriting the broken food and nutrition guidelines of the United States. No longer are we going to have a broken food pyramid and a continuation of a 70-year demonization of natural saturated fat." A new blue Makary also announced the approval of Gardenia blue, a new color additive derived from the fruit of the gardenia plant. It is the fourth natural color approved by the FDA in the past two months. The others are galdieria extract blue (from algae), calcium phosphate (a white coloring), and butterfly pea flower extract (a natural source of blue, purple and green shades). Although there is no formal agreement or legislation banning the dyes, Kennedy has said the HHS and the FDA have a "mutual understanding" with the food industry that they will be removed. Since Kennedy's appointment, several food companies, such as Kraft Heinz, General Mills, Nestle, Tyson Foods and Hershey's, have committed to removing all artificial food dyes from their food within the next couple of years. Michael Dykes, president and CEO of the International Dairy Foods Association, said he was "proud of ice cream makers and dairy foods companies for stepping up for American families." The average American eats roughly 19 pounds of ice cream a year, or about 4 gallons, according to the trade group. In 2024, the United States produced 1.31 billion gallons of ice cream. Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: RFK Jr. and ice cream makers churn up dye-free ice cream Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Major change coming to ice cream recipes by 2028
Ice cream may soon start tasting differently. The U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. intends for the Food and Drug Administration to phase out the use of petroleum-based synthetic dyes in the nation's food supply. As a result, a group of 40 ice cream producers, including Turkey Hill and Schwoeppe Dairy, have pledged to remove Red No. 3, Red 40, Green 3, Blue 1, Blue 2, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6 by the end of 2027, according to the International Dairy Foods Association. The group accounts for more than 90 percent of the ice cream sold in the U.S. The pledge to remove food dyes will only be applied to ice creams that are made with dairy milk and are sold at grocery stores, convenience stores, and online retailers. Ice creams made with non-dairy ingredients and small businesses that make their own ice cream will not be included, according to the International Dairy Foods Association. The pledge will only apply to ice creams made with dairy milk and sold at grocery stores, convenience stores, and online retailers (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) The Trump administration has led the move to eliminate synthetic dyes from the food supply by the end of next year, saying it could mark a 'major step forward' in the drive to 'Make America Healthy Again.' The ban would impact products such as breakfast cereals, candy, and snacks. The dyes have been tied to neurological problems in some children. 'For too long, some food producers have been feeding Americans petroleum-based chemicals without their knowledge or consent,' Kennedy said in a statement back in February. 'These poisonous compounds offer no nutritional benefit and pose real, measurable dangers to our children's health and development.' He added: 'We're restoring gold-standard science, applying common sense, and beginning to earn back the public's trust. And, we're doing it by working with industry to get these toxic dyes out of the foods our families eat every day.' At a cabinet meeting at the beginning of April, Kennedy claimed the dyes directly affect 'academic performance, violence in the schools, and mental health, as well as physical health.' In addition to ice cream, Kraft Heinz, the maker of Jell-O, Kool-Aid, and boxed macaroni and cheese, also announced last month that it would remove all chemical dyes from its products by the end of 2027. The company stated that, while 90 percent of its U.S. products measured by sales are already free of artificial dyes, it will not use any Food, Drug & Cosmetic colors in any new products moving forward. Kraft Heinz said that for the small number of their products that still contain artificial colors, they plan to remove the dyes where they are not critical, replace them with natural colors, or, in instances where the color isn't critical to the product, they would remove them entirely. While many products will not be impacted, some that may see changes include Crystal Light, Heinz relish, Kool-Aid, Jell-O, and Jet-Puffed, as they contain dyes such as Red No. 40 and Blue No. 1. Solve the daily Crossword
Express Tribune
16-07-2025
- Health
- Express Tribune
No more fake colours in American ice cream
Major US ice cream makers on Monday announced plans to phase out their use of artificial dyes following pressure from Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. to eliminate unnecessary additives from the American diet, as per AFP. The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), which includes over 40 top ice cream brands, said its members would stop using petroleum-derived synthetic colourings by the end of 2027. These chemicals have been linked in studies to conditions including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), cancer, diabetes, gastrointestinal issues, and genomic disruption, yet serve no nutritional or functional purpose beyond cosmetic coloring, health advocates have long argued. "I'm particularly happy to be here today because this is relevant to my favourite food, which is ice cream," Kennedy said at a press event, lauding the dairy industry for its actions. "This is a great day for dairy and it's a great day for Make America Healthy Again," added the IDFA's President and CEO Michael Dykes, referencing Kennedy's MAHA slogan that is a play on President Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" or MAGA. Andy Jacobs, CEO of Turkey Hill, said many commercial ice cream manufacturers had already phased out artificial colours or were in the process of doing so. "By taking this step now, ice cream manufacturers are ensuring that ice cream remains a special part of our lives as consumer preferences change and the nation's regulatory priorities evolve," he said. Industry data shows Americans consume roughly 19 pounds (8.6 kg) of ice cream a year. The frozen treat contributes an estimated $12 billion to the economy and supports more than 27,000 dairy industry jobs. In April, Kennedy announced plans to revoke authorisation for two synthetic dyes and to "work with industry" to eliminate six more — an approach critics dismissed as too soft and overly reliant on voluntary action.
