Walmart announced Oct. 1 that it will eliminate a long list of synthetic dyes, artificial sweeteners, and fat substitutes from its several lines of store-brand foods.
The move comes amid a wide-ranging effort by the Trump administration’s health officials to improve public health, in part by putting pressure on U.S. restaurants and grocery retailers. Walmart’s is among the most significant actions taken so far in relation to the administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” campaign, given the retail giant’s footprint in the nation’s economy and status as a common go-to grocery store for so many Americans.
The company’s “action is a significant step forward in its ongoing mission to provide customers with affordable, high-quality private brand products,” according to a news report on the company’s website.
Walmart will “eliminate synthetic dyes and the use of an additional 30 ingredients, including certain preservatives, artificial sweeteners and fat substitutes from its private brand food products,” the article explained. The change will affect “all Walmart U.S. food private brands such as Great Value, Marketside, Freshness Guaranteed and bettergoods” and bring the company more in line “with evolving customer preferences and in support of a more transparent food system.”
Fortune reported Oct. 1 that the list of ingredients Walmart will axe from its products in the next 14 months “encompasses the breadth of food manufacturing. For example, Walmart’s list includes potassium nitrate, potassium nitrite and potassium bisulfite, which are used as preservatives in processed meats. It also plans to remove phthalates, a chemical used to make plastic flexible.”
“In April,” Fortune also noted, “Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said the agency would take steps to eliminate synthetic dyes by the end of 2026, largely by relying on voluntary efforts from the food industry.”
As Reuters pointed out in a report on Walmart’s decision, Kennedy “has cracked down on ultra-processed food and chemical additives, saying they have led to a national crisis of childhood obesity, diabetes, cancer, mental health disorders, allergies and neurodevelopmental conditions like autism.”
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