Your childhood memories are being ruined, but you'll probably be much healthier because of it. So, consider this a trade-off: Kraft will remove purportedly harmful Yellow 5 and Yellow 6 food dyes from its safety-orange macaroni and cheese starting in January next year.
Instead, the sticky pasta will be colored with paprika, annatto, and turmeric, which already dyes some of its boxed shapes macaroni and cheese dinners, NBC New York reported. So, if you want to know what the new version will taste like, pick up some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles macaroni and cheese, which has been au naturel since 2014.
"Familes… want to feel good about the foods they eat and serve their families, including everything from improved nutrition to simpler ingredients," the company's VP of Marketing, Triona Schmelter, told Newsweek.
Kraft has cowed to pressure from groups insisting on healthier food stripped of unnatural dyes, artificial colors, and preservatives; consumers are demanding it from other companies, as well. They've taken a while to jump on the natural-food, no dye bandwagon because they didn't want the same customers begging for change to "notice a change in taste."
