ISU expert predicts potential fallout from swap out of popular (artificial) food additives

AMES - A growing cohort of consumers these days don't want Yellow 6, Titanium dioxide, and other artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives in their cereals, sandwiches, or pizzas, and some of the nation's largest food manufacturers are responding.

General Mills this week announced plans to remove artificial colors and flavors from most of its cereals by the end of 2016 and all of its cereals before 2017 ends. Kraft in April made a similar move by vowing to pull artificial preservatives and synthetic colors from its blue boxes of macaroni and cheese by January 2016. Nestle has committed to removing artificial flavors and 'certified colors” in its pizza and snack products - like Butterfinger and Baby Ruth - by the end of this year.

Even Panera Bread, which doesn't have to list ingredients directly on the side of its sandwiches and soups, in May announced plans to remove a long list of artificial preservatives, sweeteners, colors, and flavors by the end of 2016.

The changes represent a trend in clean eating that has shoppers looking to buy products with ingredients they recognize and can pronounce, said Lester Wilson, Iowa State University professor in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition. But, according to Wilson, all the changes could have unintended consequences - some not so appetizing to consumers or the companies serving them.

'I do think it will be a challenge to find replacements for these food additives,” he said.

General Mills, for example, has said it will replace artificial colors with fruit and vegetable juices and spice extracts like turmeric and annatto to achieve red, yellow, orange, and purple hues. But, Wilson said, colors like blue and green - including those found in its Trix cereal - are hard to replicate naturally and could get the ax.

Natural food pigments also are less heat-stable and more sensitive to other environmental conditions like acid and oxygen levels or light. That means they could develop different flavors, colors, or textures, and fall short of consumer expectations.

'We eat with our eyes,” Wilson said. 'If it doesn't look right, we are not going to eat it.”

Then there's the cost. Natural ingredients are more expensive. Take real vanilla, which General Mills has said it will incorporate into its products instead of its artificial counterpart.

'Are (those companies) going to eat the price increase or pass it on?” he said.

If they pass it on, sales might drop - like potential losses associated with product changes in appearance or flavor, Wilson said.

'If a brand name is the gold standard leader and they start messing with it, often that can create problems, unless their product development people are really good and can keep the same color, taste, texture, viscosity, whatever the sensory characteristics are for the consumer,” he said.

Many of the products companies are dropping long have been considered safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and still are. In many cases, in fact, they do a good job of keeping food safe and, without them, companies might have to adjust use-by and sell-by dates - something consumers will have to keep an eye on, Wilson said.

'If consumers weren't saying we want a clean label and that we want to be able to understand everything on there, the industry would not change,” he said.

Some nutrition experts have expressed concerns that these companies' efforts to use more natural ingredients might lead parents to perceive things like sugar cereals and candy bars as healthier. Wilson said in addition to the ingredients list, consumers should check the nutrition facts on packaged food to determine their nutritional value.

The challenge of finding satisfactory replacement products is behind the delay in rolling out the changes, according to Wilson. And, he said, only time will tell whether companies stick with their vows to go natural or revert to their old ways to accommodate flavor and aesthetic demands.

'Consumers vote with their pocketbooks,” he said. 'So we'll have to see how this plays out.”