By Will Kubzansky, Bloomberg News

The U.S. government is pushing food companies to switch their bright synthetic dyes to natural colors — but the maker of Dum Dums lollipops and Sweethearts candy hearts is in no rush.

Kirk Vashaw, chief executive officer of Spangler Candy Company, said a key problem with changing ingredients is taste. Take beet juice: “That’s a nice red, but it tastes like beets,” he said.

Then there’s carmine, which makes some consumers queasy because the reddish pigment comes from cochineal insects.

“People said, ‘I’d rather get cancer than eat the bug,’ ” Vashaw said, referring to an instance when his company used the coloring.

Spangler, which employs about 550 workers in Bryan, Ohio, also makes Bit-O-Honey candy, Necco Wafers and Circus Peanuts. The 119-year-old company already uses some natural colors and is testing other natural dyes. But a number of its confections include artificial colors such as Yellow 5 and Red 40. Spangler pulls in an estimated $200 million in annual retail sales, and it produces roughly 12 million Dum Dums a day.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said last month that it will work with the packaged-food industry to phase out artificial dyes by early 2027. Kennedy and other officials have linked the ingredients to diseases such as obesity and diabetes while calling for “real and transformative change” to get “the worst ingredients out of food.”

Health advocates have said for years that synthetic colors add no taste or nutritional value but make unhealthy foods more visually appealing. Red No. 3, which has been linked to cancer and is used in products such as candy and cold medicine, will be banned in the U.S. starting in early 2027. Spangler doesn’t use the ingredient.

Food-industry lobbyists have said that there’s no official agreement in place with the government, at least for now. The industry says artificial food dyes are safe, and Vashaw’s comments underscore how some companies aren’t on board with Kennedy’s time line and perspective.

Vashaw said his company has used artificial dyes for around 50 years and “we believe they’re safe.” He added Spangler hasn’t reached an agreement “with anybody” on discontinuing their use. There aren’t any regulations currently saying companies will have to stop using the dyes, he said.

“There’s talk, but actual regulations are another thing,” he said during an interview at the Sweets & Snacks Expo in Indianapolis last week and a subsequent phone conversation.

“It’s likely that when we get to the end of 2026 that we will still have products that will still have these artificial colors,” Vashaw said. “One, there might not even be the supply for these natural colors, and two, we have to do what the consumers want, and it’s not clear to us that these consumers want these natural colors.”

Spangler has made dye-free variants of some of its products with natural flavorings for more than 30 years, including candy canes and, at times, a line of Dum Dums. But Vashaw’s experience is that these products aren’t what consumers actually want.

“We have natural items now,” Vashaw said. “They’re just not bought in any meaningful way.” In the case of the candy canes, “some people think it tastes like dirt,” he said.

Natural candy canes make up less than 2% of Spangler’s total candy cane sales, and the firm ended up pulling its natural Dum Dums after they proved a flop.

Allergy concerns

Vashaw also expressed concern about new colors that the FDA approved this month, such as Galdieria extract blue, which is derived from algae, and butterfly pea flower extract, made from dried flower petals, saying the ingredients could potentially be allergenic for some people. In their regulations approving the dyes, the FDA concluded that both colors pose little risk for allergic reactions.

Some companies are expanding their tests of natural dyes as government pressure for a change increases. PepsiCo Inc., for example, has come out with Simply Ruffles Hot & Spicy, which uses tomato powder and red chile pepper instead of the artificial dyes that give other chips their vibrant color.

Vashaw said his company will continue to test natural ingredients, but the lack of regulatory clarity is creating confusion about what will happen.

“Right now, it’s more of a guideline,” he said. “Is it really going to get enforced? Is it going to get pushed back? When their Doritos are a dull orange, are people going to accept that?”

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