“One, there might not even be the supply for these natural colors,” Kirk Vashaw, CEO of Spangler Candy Company, told Bloomberg, “and two, we have to do what the consumers want, and it’s not clear to us that these consumers want these natural colors.”
That’s what derailed General Mills’ previous attempt, which was announced in 2015. But Harmening said there’s been a shift from a decade ago.
Jeff Harmening, CEO of General Mills. (General Mills)
“Consumer perception has changed over that time as well as consumer interest in transparency and wanting to know what’s in their food,” he said. “The landscape now for consumers is different now than it was then and pretty significantly.”
The next batch of naturally colored cereals will also benefit from a decade of innovation, he said.
“We don’t stand still either,” Harmening said. “For the last decade, we’ve been working on how we formulate products and our capabilities, and we are confident that we can come up with a much better product.”
Developing alternatives is a costly endeavor; about 15% of General Mills products contain “certified” colors, as they are also known. And without a true national standard that ensures all food companies remove artificial dyes, competitors could steal away consumers still looking for their brightly colored comforts.
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