Replacing synthetic dyes is no longer a brief your team can put on the back burner. “Clean label” mentions are up 131% in the past 12 months, and “no artificial colors” has grown 20% over the same period. Brands that treat natural color replacement as an isolated R&D task are solving only part of the problem. Consumers are scrutinizing the entire ingredient list, and the brands gaining shelf momentum are the ones who understand that.
Key takeaways
- “Clean label” is up 131% in the past year and “no artificial colors” is up 20% over the same period. These are not separate conversations. Consumers are running a single transparency audit across everything in the formulation.
- Blue algae (spirulina) holds a 34.6 social index with steady growth, and sweet paprika is up 33.5% in the past 12 months. Natural colorants are no longer background ingredients. They are front-of-pack features your team can build claims around.
- “Authenticity” is up 31% in consumer conversations and 18% on menus. This momentum, historically rooted in meat, is moving fast into beverages and snacking. Your reformulation window is narrower than it looks.
The anti-UPF movement is rewriting the brief
The replace-synthetic-food-dyes conversation is bigger than it appears from the inside of an R&D lab. Tastewise data shows “no artificial colors” growing 20% in the past year, but zoom out and the picture sharpens further: “clean label” is up 131% and “seed oil free” is up 99% over the same period. These signals are traveling together. Consumers are not reading one part of the label. They are reading all of it, and they are making decisions based on whether the full picture feels trustworthy.
For formulation teams, this means that replacing Red 40 with beetroot extract solves one piece of a larger puzzle. Your team needs to be building toward a holistic clean-label story, not a single-ingredient swap.
Why consumers want you to start replacing synthetic dyes
The rejection of artificial colors is not an aesthetic preference. It is a trust problem.
“No artificial flavors” carries a 1,136x social index, a signal that consumers are talking about ingredient authenticity at a volume that dwarfs almost every other food conversation. Artificial sweeteners are declining, with aspartame sitting at a 242x index but falling 14.8% in the past 12 months. The pattern is consistent. Consumers are moving away from anything that reads as engineered, and the products winning their attention are the ones that can prove they did not take the shortcut.
The clean-label triad your team should be tracking right now: “no artificial colors” (+20%), “clean label” (+131%) and “seed oil free” (+99%). These three claims are rising in parallel because they describe the same underlying consumer behavior. People are demanding to know what is in their food, and they are willing to switch brands when the answer does not satisfy them.
Treating color replacement as an isolated brief is a strategic mistake. When a consumer sees a natural color claim on your pack, they are already checking for the seed oil line, the sweetener, the preservatives. Your claim creates scrutiny, not just credit.
Formulating with produce: from substitute to selling point
The most interesting shift in clean-label color formulation right now is not the removal of Red 40 or Yellow 5. It is what is happening to the ingredients replacing them.
Blue algae, beetroot, and smoked paprika are no longer functional substitutes hidden from the consumer. They are becoming the reason someone picks up the product.
Blue algae (spirulina): Spirulina holds a 34.6 social index and has grown 4% in the past year, staying firmly in the early lifecycle stage. In beverages especially, the vivid teal and green hues it produces are driving what your marketing team needs most right now: organic visual attention. This is the ingredient turning a standard hydration product into an Instagram moment. It replaces artificial blues in formulations and simultaneously signals a wellness credential. Green algae, a related ingredient, sits at a 916.2 social index, flagged as a uniquely high-signal ingredient worth monitoring closely.
Beetroot: Beetroot sits at a 37.6 social index and is in its early lifecycle stage, which means the category is not saturated. Its derivatives tell a more nuanced story: golden beet at 539.5 index (+5%), pickled beet at 535.8 index (+10%), and beet hummus at 542.7 index signal that consumers are encountering beetroot across multiple eating occasions. For R&D teams replacing Red 40 in plant-based applications, beetroot extract brings the deep red without the synthetic flag, and it carries a sourcing story that your marketing team can work with.
Smoked paprika: Sweet paprika is up 33.5% in the past 12 months with a 221.9 social index, one of the strongest momentum signals in this ingredient cluster. In snacking and meat alternatives, smoked paprika does two jobs simultaneously: it delivers the warm red-orange visual your team needs to replace artificial colorants, and it adds a savory flavor cue that reads as craft and quality to the consumer. This is the kind of formulation choice that gives your front-of-pack story something to actually say.
The “authenticity” mandate in CPG and foodservice
There is a word appearing more often in consumer conversations about food, and your team should know it well. “Authenticity” is up 31% in consumer conversations and 18% on menus in the past 12 months.
This is not a vague feeling. It is a purchasing signal that consumers are articulating more clearly than before. They want foods that feel true to what they claim to be. A plant-based burger that uses artificial colors to simulate the look of beef is, in the eyes of a growing consumer segment, a contradiction. If the product is natural by argument, it should look natural by design.
The cultural momentum here is historically strongest in meat. Consumers in this category have been pushing back against “fake” options for years, favoring whole cuts, minimal processing, and legible ingredient lists. What is new is the speed at which this attitude is moving into beverages and snacking.
Carbonated water is up 206% in the past year in the clean-label context. Soda is up 166%. Lemonade is up 79.8%. These are not products traditionally associated with transparency. The fact that they are now appearing in the same consumer conversation as authenticity and clean label tells you the expectation has generalized. It is no longer a premium or specialty-food instinct. It is mainstream.
3 ways CPG brands can capitalize on natural colors
1. Stack your claims, do not settle for one
A “natural colors” call-out on pack earns attention. A “natural colors + seed oil free + plant-based” story earns conviction. The brands gaining the most traction right now are pairing color claims with other trending vectors. “Seed oil free” is up 99% in the past year. “Clean label” is up 131%. Your team has the data to build a stacked claim architecture that speaks to the full consumer audit, not just one part of it. Each additional credible claim shortens the path from shelf to basket.
2. Tell the ingredient’s story on the front of pack
Beetroot extract is not just “no Red 40.” It is a specific plant with a specific provenance, and consumers are increasingly responsive to that story. When sweet paprika replaces an artificial red-orange, your team has a sourcing narrative that a synthetic dye can never offer. The ingredient’s identity is the differentiator. Make it visible. A front-of-pack call-out that names beetroot, spirulina, or smoked paprika signals both what the product does not contain and where the color actually comes from.
3. Track the next wave of botanicals before your competitors reformulate
Sweet paprika is up 33.5% in the past year. Blue algae is holding its early lifecycle position with a 34.6 social index. Monk fruit is up 133%. These signals are available now. Your team can use predictive AI to identify which natural colorants are gaining traction with Gen Z before committing to a full reformulation, which means you can move with demand rather than chase it after the fact.
Book a demo to see how Tastewise identifies which natural ingredients are trending in your category.
FAQs about replacing synthetic dyes in the F& industry
Consumer scrutiny over ultra-processed ingredients is accelerating. “No artificial colors” claims have grown 20% in the past year while “clean label” has grown 131%, driven by consumers reading the full ingredient list rather than responding to a single front-of-pack claim. Regulatory pressure in some markets and retailer requirements for cleaner formulations are adding further urgency. Brands replacing synthetic dyes are doing so both to meet consumer demand and to future-proof their formulations against tightening standards.
Tastewise data points to three ingredients leading the natural color transition right now. Spirulina (blue algae) delivers vivid teal and green hues and holds a 34.6 social index with steady growth in the early lifecycle stage. Beetroot extract provides the deep reds most commonly used to replace Red 40 in plant-based and functional applications, with high-index derivative forms like golden beet and pickled beet signaling broad consumer familiarity. Sweet paprika is growing 33.5% in the past year with a 221.9 social index, serving double duty as a warm red-orange visual and a savory flavor cue in snacking and meat alternatives.
Yes, and this is why formulation teams need consumer data alongside technical data. Smoked and sweet paprika add flavor alongside color, which can strengthen the product’s positioning in savory categories but requires careful calibration in sweeter applications. Beetroot can introduce an earthy note that is either a feature or a liability depending on the product format. Spirulina is relatively neutral in flavor at typical usage levels, making it a versatile choice for beverages where color impact is the primary goal. Shelf stability varies by ingredient and processing method. Working with real-world consumer response data from products already using these colorants helps your team anticipate how the flavor contribution will land with your target audience.
They are the same trend, expressed differently in formulation. “Authenticity” is up 31% in consumer conversations and 18% on menus in the past year. When consumers say they want authentic food, they mean food where the ingredients do what they claim to do. A natural blue color that comes from spirulina reads as honest. An artificial blue that comes from a synthetic dye does not, regardless of how the rest of the label reads. Natural colorants allow your team to align the ingredient truth of the product with the consumer’s expectation of it, which is the core of what the authenticity trend is asking for.
Read more from Kelia Losa Reinoso
Foodservice Report – Trends Towards 2024
10 Sustainable Food Trends Every Product Team Should Be Tracking Right Now
How AI in F&B Marketing Campaigns is Changing The Industry in 2026
