PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta said the snacking giant will be “accelerating” its transition to natural ingredients amid increasing consumer demand and pressure from the White House to remove artificial colors from foods. Laguarta said during PepsiCo’s first-quarter earnings call with analysts on Thursday that the Cheetos and Doritos maker plans to have transitioned “all the portfolio into natural colors or at least provide the consumer with natural color options” in the next “couple years.”
Still, he underscored that PepsiCo’s chips, puffs and other snacks are safe, and the company stands by the existing science. “Every consumer will have the opportunity to choose what they prefer,” he said. The comments come two days after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the department wants food companies to voluntarily remove or replace commonly used synthetic colors before the end of 2026.
SOURCE: NAFB News Service
