Save A Lot intends to remove seven artificial dyes from all of its private label goods by the end of next year, the discount grocery chain announced last week.
Some of the grocer’s products, such as Crystal Falls sparkling beverages and Kurtz salad dressings, are already free of synthetic colors, and the company expects that all 113 products from which it plans to remove the dyes will no longer contain them by the end of 2027.
The dyes Save A Lot is working with suppliers to phase out from its house-branded products include Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 3, Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6 and Red 3 — all of which the Food and Drug Administration has targeted for elimination from the nation’s food supply as part of the Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” initiative.
Save A Lot said it is prioritizing ending its use of Red 3, for which the FDA revoked authorization in January 2025. Products that currently include that dye will no longer contain it by the end of 2026.
The grocer noted that products it is reformulating might appear different once they no longer contain the dyes, which are derived from petroleum. The company said, however, that its quality assurance team is working with suppliers to avoid changing the “overall taste or quality” of the adjusted items.
Save A Lot’s announcement that it will purge artificial food dyes from its private label products follows Walmart’s disclosure last October that it plans to stop using synthetic dyes and 30 other ingredients typically found in ultraprocessed foods in its store branded foods by January 2027.
Synthetic food dyes have been around since the 1800s and are widely used, but they have drawn criticism in recent years because of their links to health problems such as cancer and behavioral issues in children.
