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Dunkin' Donuts has removed all artificial dyes from its doughnuts, nearly one year ahead of schedule, as the company continues to work to find replacements for synthetic coloring in its other menu items.


Rick Golden, Manager of Donut Excellence for Dunkin' Brands, announced the news on 

, saying that "bright, colorful confections" are a hallmark of Dunkin's doughnut lineup. The colors will remain, but the artificial colorings will be gone.
Last year, Dunkin' announced it 

 to drop artificial colors. The target date was the end of 2018. That's still the goal for frozen drinks, other baked goods and breakfast sandwiches — but the doughnuts went au naturel, as it were, a little early.


"Our biggest challenge was replacing the artificial dyes in donuts with fruit juices and other extracts while balancing the flavor profile and bright colors," Golden wrote. "It took years of research and development to get it just right."

Some items used as toppings or decoration may still contain synthetic dyes, the company notes.



Dunkin' is the latest in a long line of food companies to replace artificial colors with 

 more expensive and more difficult to consistently produce. (Meanwhile, some perfectly natural colorings, like a red dye made from crushed insects, have also been known to

 it would be coloring Trix cereal with dyes made from the spices turmeric and annatto, as well as fruit and vegetable juices, instead of the old artificial options. (The company 

 both naturally colored and "Classic" Trix.) Nestle 

re-did the recipes for 75 different candy bars

 to eliminate artificial flavors and colors. Panera 

 that it was dropping 150 different additives, including artificial colors.

Food dyes have been a particular target for advocates against artificial food additives, partly because they 

, and partly because of specific concerns about their effect on children.
As NPR's Allison Aubrey has 

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Dunkin' Donuts had previously pledged to eliminate the dyes by the end of 2018, and is still working on its other menu items.

Time to make the doughnuts free of artificial dyes, Dunkin' decides

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