Oct 23, 2026 · 27 min
RFK Jr.’s dye crackdown meets the realities of food manufacturing
RFK Jr. and the chocolate factory
The episode tests whether public pressure on food companies can meaningfully improve diets without binding rules or affordable alternatives.
- 1Artificial dyes remain scientifically contested, but approved uses are still considered safe by the FDA.
- 2Mars found natural blue coloring technically difficult and expensive, without making the candy substantially healthier.
- 3MAHA has influenced product messaging and corporate promises more than America’s broader chronic-disease crisis.
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Jesse Newman describes visiting Mars’s Topeka factory and seeing how spirulina’s natural blue color challenged the machinery used to coat M&M’s.
The brief
RFK Jr. and the Make America Healthy Again movement are targeting artificial food dyes, but the episode asks whether that campaign reaches beyond headlines and corporate promises.
Wall Street Journal reporter Jesse Newman uses blue M&M’s to explain the science and politics: the FDA considers approved dyes safe, while critics cite concerns about hyperactivity, neurological problems, and cancer.
At Mars’s factory in Topeka, Kansas, Newman saw why replacing artificial blue dye with spirulina was difficult: the algae-based color challenged machinery and raised production costs.
Mars announced naturally dyed options but did not eliminate artificially dyed candies, and choosing the alternative would not make an M&M substantially healthier.
RFK Jr. has pressured companies by publicly naming products such as Fruit Loops and Twinkies, yet without binding mandates, progress remains uneven and expensive.
The larger verdict is limited: MAHA has shifted some product trends, but has not yet addressed ultra-processed foods or America’s chronic-disease crisis.
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