In the past two months, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved four new food-safe colour additives: gardenia blue, butterfly pea flower extract, Galdieria blue and calcium phosphate. It’s the fastest expansion of the natural colour palette in years and a sign that change is accelerating.
Three of the newly approved additives are derived from natural sources like plants and algae. The fourth is mineral based but nonetheless approved as a whitening agent that offers an alternative to synthetic titanium dioxide.
The approvals follow an April announcement from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, who pledged to work with industry to phase out synthetic, petroleum-based food dyes as part of the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again campaign.
With that came urgency. The FDA isn’t just opening the door to alternatives; it’s encouraging manufacturers to walk through it faster. Red No 3, once a staple of colourful cereals, gummies and bakery sprinkles, has formally been put on notice.
Meanwhile, brands are already making moves. Trade groups like Consumer Brands – which represents major packaged goods companies including General Mills, PepsiCo and Nestlé USA – are aligning with the FDA’s new direction, pledging to strip FD&C dyes from foods served in schools by the 2026-2027 school year. It’s a strong signal that reformulation timelines are tightening across categories.
For manufacturers, this is more than an ingredient swap. It’s a supply chain reset, a formulation rethink and a chance to reconnect with a consumer base increasingly drawn to transparency, simplicity and colour they can trust.
A new colour horizon
The FDA’s approval of four new colour additives since April has opened the door to a more diverse and future-proofed palette, giving manufacturers new options as they phase out synthetics. While all four are exempt from certification, each brings unique properties, formulation needs and market potential.
Galdieria blue, sourced from heat-loving red algae, is emerging as a bold, naturally derived option for bright blue tones. It’s already showing promise in cereal applications, however, its sensitivity to light, pH, and heat means careful handling is essential, particularly in baking. Produced through fermentation, it remains pricier than synthetic dyes, though costs are beginning to fall as demand grows and production scales up.
Butterfly pea flower extract is known for its pH-responsive colour range – shifting from blue to purple to green – which lends itself to bakery applications where colour can be controlled post-bake. This makes it ideal for icings, glazes and fillings where formulators can dial in specific hues by adjusting acidity levels. However, because it’s sensitive to heat, it’s less suited to oven-baked formats and performs best in finishes added after baking.
Calcium phosphate is earning attention as a cost-effective replacement for titanium dioxide. Already common in baking powders and anti-caking blends, its new approval as a colourant gives manufacturers a compliant whitening agent for icings, fillings and confectionery. Overuse can affect texture, but in small amounts it delivers reliable opacity with minimal disruption to formulation.
Gardenia (genipin) blue, extracted from the fruit of Gardenia jasminoides, delivers an eye-catching blue that holds up well in confectionery and beverages. While its use in baked or processed snacks is still under evaluation, it’s seen as a strong candidate to replace synthetic blues, especially as more data supports its stability under real-world production conditions.
What the quartet brings to the table
Since April, the FDA has cleared four naturally sourced colours for commercial use, each with its own quirks, strengths and formulation considerations. Here’s what they offer:
Galdieria Extract Blue
Source: Unicellular red algae (Galdieria sulphuraria)
How it works: The vivid blue comes from C‑phycocyanin, a pigment also found in spirulina. Available in liquid and powder formats, it includes food-grade carriers for consistency.
Strengths and challenges: This extract delivers a stable, food-safe blue that has already shown promise in hard candy coatings and cereal inclusions. It’s supported by robust safety data, including 90-day toxicology studies showing no adverse effects at high exposure levels. That said, it’s highly sensitive to heat, light and pH, making it tricky in baked goods unless buffered or encapsulated.
Cost: Grown via fermentation, it’s more costly than synthetic options but production is scaling fast and costs are expected to come down.
Butterfly Pea Flower Extract
Source: Clitoria ternatea, a Southeast Asian flowering plant
How it works: Rich in delphinidin-based anthocyanins, this extract shifts colour with pH – from blue to purple to green.
Strengths and challenges: This botanical is flexible and visually striking, ideal for gradient or interactive colour applications. It works well in snacks, baked goods, and frostings when pH is carefully managed. However, it isn’t heat-stable and tends to degrade in high-heat processing. There have also been some reports of mild digestive sensitivity at high consumption levels.
Cost: On the upside, it’s more affordable than algae-based alternatives, although surging demand could pressure global supply.
Calcium Phosphate
Source: Naturally occurring mineral
How it works: Long used in baking powder, it’s now approved as a whitening agent for icings, fillings, and coatings.
Strengths and challenges: Calcium phosphate offers a clean white appearance without relying on synthetic titanium dioxide. It’s multifunctional, too, commonly used as an anticaking or firming agent in snacks and bakery products. The downside? Overuse can result in a chalky or gritty texture, and it doesn’t deliver the same brightness as TiO₂.
Cost: It’s widely available, inexpensive and easy to work with across a range of formulations.
Gardenia (Genipin) Blue
Source: Fruit of the Gardenia jasminoides plant
How it works: Genipin reacts with amino acids to produce a stable, brilliant blue. Already used in Asia, it’s now approved in the US for candies, beverages and flavoured waters.
Strengths and challenes: This vibrant blue is well suited to confectionery and offers a proven safety profile with no genotoxicity concerns. While its heat and light stability are still being assessed in baked and processed formats, it’s already gaining traction in candy and drinks.
Cost: Supply remains limited for now and production methods are still evolving, which makes it one of the pricier natural blues – though prices are expected to drop as the ingredient becomes more widely adopted.
Red 3 loses its glow
As the FDA fast-tracks approvals for natural and mineral-based colours, it’s also urging manufacturers to speed up the phase-out of FD&C Red No 3 – well ahead of the 15 January 2027 deadline. Once a staple in maraschino cherries, cereals, sprinkles and children’s sweets, the synthetic dye has spent decades under regulatory scrutiny. Now, it’s finally being nudged toward retirement.
And the push isn’t just coming from regulators. Brands are already moving, spurred on by shifting consumer sentiment and mounting retail pressure.
According to a survey from natural colour provider Oterra conducted earlier this month, 77% of US parents say they’re either fearful or concerned about artificial colours in food. That concern is sharpest in highly visible categories: soft drinks (54%), juice drinks (46%), sports drinks (44%), confectionery (44%), snacks (40%), cereals (33%) and bakery products (29%).
“The announcement in April to phase out FD&C dyes has certainly resonated with shoppers,” said Vibeke Haislund, Oterra’s global head of Marketing, speaking at the IFT First Expo in Chicago. “Manufacturers taking early action will be rewarded with increased sales from a growing number of consumers who are aware of the advantages of natural colours.”
In short, colour has shifted from a branding tool to a trust marker and the brands that move first are the ones most likely to win consumer loyalty in this fast-changing landscape.
Time to bake the change
Natural colour has moved from fringe to frontline. With Red 3 on the way out and four new FDA-approved dyes now in play, producers can’t afford to sit in the shade.
Start by pressure-testing your current formulations. Natural colours are sensitive to heat, light and pH, meaning brands will need to tweak baking times, reformulate icings and explore encapsulation or buffering to maintain visual punch.
Next, build real R&D partnerships. Whether you’re working butterfly pea into a shelf-stable glaze or testing Galdieria blue in puffed snacks, your ingredient suppliers will be your sunshine – bringing clarity and stability when the formulation forecast looks cloudy.
And most importantly, bring consumers into the light. Be transparent on labels, call out natural colour sources and use packaging to reflect the shift. “The science is there. The demand is there. And now the regulatory momentum is catching up,” said Haislund.
The brands that embrace this shift won’t just survive the weather – they’ll own the rainbow. Those who wait? They’ll be left chasing it.