The idiom what’s good for the goose is good for the gander depicts something that is good for one should be good for all. However, food and beverage markets are experiencing a different take on this phrase following the recent signing of California AB-2316 by Governor Gavin Newsom.

Referred to as the California School Food Safety Act, the bill “would prohibit a school district, county superintendent of schools, or charter school maintaining kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, from offering a nutritionally adequate breakfast or lunch containing specified substances, including, among others, red 40 and yellow 5 and would prohibit a school operated and maintained by a school district or county office of education from selling food or beverages, except for food items sold as part of a school fundraising event, containing those specified substances, as provided,” the bill states. “To the extent this bill would impose additional requirements on public schools, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.”

Taking effect Dec. 31, 2027, the following substances cannot be in present in competitive foods:

• Blue 1 (CAS 3844-45-9)
• Blue 2 (CAS 860-22-0)
• Green 3 (CAS 2353-45-9)
• Red 40 (CAS 25956-17-6)
• Yellow 5 (CAS 1934-21-0)
• Yellow 6 (CAS 2783-94-0)

The passage follows Governor Newsom signing AB-418, which will prohibit any food product manufactured, sold, delivered, distributed, held or offered for sale in California from containing brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, or red dye 3. This law will take effect Jan. 1, 2027.

Although these recent law passages only impact the state of California, industry experts highlight the wide-reaching affect these as well as other regulations will have on food and beverage products.

“Certain regional regulatory shifts, such as the EU’s ban on titanium dioxide and California’s laws surrounding labeling and synthetic color use, are having widespread impacts on development,” says Meghan Skidmore, content marketing manager at Sensient Food Colors, St. Louis, Mo. “We are hearing from many of our customers that they are preparing to replace synthetic colors with natural alternatives in the next few years in response to these regulatory changes and the corresponding shifts in consumer sentiment.

“Although laws like California’s Bill 418 and Bill 2316 banning the use of synthetic colors in certain areas are technically only applicable to products made and sold in California, the actual anticipated impact is nationwide, as it becomes unrealistic for food and beverage manufacturers to alter formulas for only one state,” she continues.

Phil Cook, head of strategic marketing at Oterra, Hørsholm, Denmark, also calls attention to the impact that regulations will have on the U.S. market.

“The regulatory and consumer environment in the U.S. is very different from Europe, for example, but there are signs that things are changing,” Cook says. “The recent bill banning certain synthetic colors in school meals in California has led to more beverage companies getting in touch to talk about what is possible with natural colors. It is starting small, but that was also the case in Europe and we are also seeing the same trend in other areas of the world such as Asia.”

Stephen J. Lauro, president of colorMaker Inc., Anaheim, Calif., highlights the ways in which the state law will impact beverage manufacturers.

“First, your readers should note caramel color has not been banned,” Lauro says. “Therefore, ‘cola’ beverages in the State of California will still be brown. Second, some beverage companies may simply remove the six offending artificial colors, package their otherwise finished beverages in an aluminum can, and sell them into state-funded California public school lunch programs with added flavors, but no color. In the national marketplace there are many beverages that are flavored, but not colored. The consumer experience is mixed ― so are sales figures.

“Third, and perhaps most importantly, the California ban of these six artificial colors may impact the formulation of beverages beyond state-funded California public school lunch programs,” he continues. “California public school lunch programs are not a major market, but here at colorMaker we are already experiencing ‘push back’ from food and beverage companies that do not want multiple products for multiple markets.”

Natural push

Given these major changes to the regulatory market, industry experts highlight the growing interest from beverage formulators to utilize natural color solutions.

Alice Lee, technical marketing manager at GNT USA LLC, Dallas, N.C., notes that a fair number of brands have been utilizing natural colors, but it has increased since the announcement of the pending bans.

“Many brands in the beverage space are already using natural colors, but the Red 3 ban has helped to accelerate the shift away from artificial colors,” she says. “The FDA also only approved the use of spirulina extract in beverages in 2022 so it wasn’t previously possible to deliver natural blues and greens. Brands are now starting to use spirulina in place of Brilliant Blue and using combinations of spirulina with carotenes and other plant-based yellows for green shades.”

Emina Goodman, senior director for colors at ADM, Chicago, details the plethora of innovation potential that awaits beverage-makers as suppliers continue to make advancements in colors derived from natural sources.

“Colors sourced from fruits, vegetables and plants allow beverage manufacturers to meet the growing demand for clean-label product positioning,” Goodman says. “For example, instead of using artificial dyes like red No. 40, yellow No. 5 or blue No. 2, brands are turning to natural alternatives such as various fruit and vegetable juices, like black carrot for vibrant reds, turmeric for rich yellows or huito fruit and spirulina (where applicable) for striking blues. Emphasizing the use of natural colorants can also help brands appeal to environmentally conscious consumers by promoting sustainability and ingredient transparency.”

Beyond natural colors compliance attributes, industry experts also highlight how these concepts can support consumers’ ideals related to health and the environment.

“Consumers want familiar, naturally derived ingredients and seek transparency, which they believe to be better for both themselves and the environment,” Goodman says. “Consumers are particularly weary of artificial colors; however, shoppers still expect beverages to be visually appealing for a fully enjoyable experience. These factors impact beverage formulators’ decisions, leading them to look for quality, stable and ‘natural’ color solutions.”

Oterra’s Cook also points out that growth of organic food purchases has resulted in increased demand for natural and organic colors.

“In most regulations, organic products are allowed to have non-organic ingredients up to around 5% of the total, and that has usually been taken up by traditional colors,” Cook says. “With certified organic natural colors, that leaves the 5% open for other things.”

As an example, Cook notes that it can be harder to get organic sources for functional ingredients. By using organic colors, beverage-makers can use that non-organic percentage on functional ingredients, if it doesn’t exceed that 5% threshold.

Sensient’s Skidmore also highlights the effect health and wellness is having on natural color usage.

“According to Sensient consumer research, two thirds of consumers consider ‘clean label’ to be important when purchasing food and beverages,” she says. “Naturalness is becoming an expectation, not a bonus, for many. Natural colors appeal to consumers scanning a product label for recognizable ingredients. In some cases, they also offer enhanced stability and a wider shade range than their synthetic counterparts.”

Meanwhile, Skidmore points out that the demand of natural and organic products has prompted color suppliers to develop innovative, creative uses to curate a “full natural rainbow.”

“For example, natural purple solutions from novel sources like butterfly pea flower extract can often outshine even their synthetic counterparts with bright, clean hues, drawing developers toward new avenues of color and flavor development,” she says. “At the same time, beverage developers are under pressure to cut no corners: natural and organic claims are not an acceptable excuse to consumers for a color deficit. Consumers expect the best from natural and organic products because they can see it’s possible: nature’s rainbow is deep and wide with clean label solutions covering almost every shade.”

We are hearing from many of our customers that they are preparing to replace synthetic colors with natural alternatives in the next few years in response to these regulatory changes and the corresponding shifts in consumer sentiment.

Shady balancing act

No matter the reasoning for beverage manufacturers’ interest in natural colors, suppliers recognize that the difference in shade and vibrancy when compared with synthetic counterparts remains an area of concern.

“FD&C Red No. 40 is a poor replacement for FD&C Red No. 3, and no natural red color comes close to either one,” colorMaker’s Lauro says. “FD&C Red No. 40 is available as a ‘lake’ ― that is, as an insoluble pigment ― and as a result it disperses well in cocoa butter. Few natural colors are available as insoluble pigments. Consequently, very few natural colors may be used to color cocoa butter. Natural colors are sensitive to changes in light exposure, heat treatment, and pH, making it difficult if not impossible to replace artificial colors one-for-one.”

ADM’s Goodman further highlights that consumers know where they are willing to make sacrifices, and it is up to manufacturers and suppliers to accommodate those boundaries.

“While naturally sourced colors are important to meeting increasing demands for clean labels, consumers are not willing to sacrifice appearance, taste or cost in their beverages,” she says. “For manufacturers, this creates a challenge to deliver on variables such as the stability, intensity and consistency of color solutions.

“To help overcome these hurdles, we tap our cutting-edge technologies and Colors from Nature library,” Goodman continues. “We build our portfolio through our vertically integrated supply chain, which supports clean label targets and ensures the quality of our color solutions throughout growing, harvesting, washing, pigment extraction, filtration, concentration, stabilization and deodorization.”

Goodman details that ADM’s proprietary and patented micronization technology builds plating characteristics into the company’s color solutions, designed to mitigate flashing, streaking and bleeding in different applications.

“To address potential off-notes, we use our deodorizing and masking technologies, along with our extraction technology, to support the creation of gorgeous shades without unwanted flavors and aromas,” she says. “Our extraction technology also removes proteins, sugars and starches to produce a true hue that can withstand even the most sensitive processing conditions.”

Also supporting manufacturers’ natural color needs, GNT’s Lee explains that the company’s EXBERRY colors are derived from non-GMO fruits, vegetables and plants, and it offers a certified organic range.

“They enable manufacturers to achieve vibrant shades while allowing for simple label declarations such as ‘fruit and vegetable juice for color’ or ‘carrot juice for color,’” Lee says. “That helps manufacturers to utilize really striking colors while maintaining widespread consumer acceptance.

“Our EXBERRY Blue for Beverages technology means we can also now deliver blue, green, and violet shades in a vast range of beverages using the on-trend superfood spirulina,” she continues. “Spirulina delivers bright blue shades, but it’s sensitive to both heat and acid so previously it was very difficult to achieve stable results in most beverage applications. Our proprietary technology now makes it possible to use spirulina in applications including sports, energy, and carbonated drinks, juice drinks, enhanced waters, and alcoholic beverages below 20% ABV.”

When it comes to the range of natural colors, Oterra’s Cook points out that in the past it meant more compromising. However, now raw material innovation has allowed natural pigments to be a more balanced rivalry with “synthetics in terms of intensity, stability and ease of use in beverage formulations, and in some situations can outperform them,” he says.

Noting the popularity of blue in food and beverage creation, Cook highlights that Oterra released last December Jagua Blue, a color created from the fruit of Colombian jagua trees.

“Produced in partnership with Ecoflora Cares, a certified B Company and a member of the union for Ethical Biotrade, the product contributes to improving the lives of farmers and the local ecosystem while giving beverage manufacturers a way to boost sustainability and achieve their environmental, social and governance goals,” Cook says. “Recently, the range of jagua products has been expanded to include vivid green and purple shades previously impossible to achieve in the U.S. without synthetic colors.”

Going forward GNT’s Lee also anticipates blue and shades near that range will see more growth as natural color solutions expand the market reach.

“The emergence of our EXBERRY Blue for Beverages technology has really changed the game in terms of what’s possible for natural colors,” she says. “Blue is increasingly used by top brands and chains to attract attention and there’s vast potential to use it across a wide range of products. There’s also plenty more scope to use green. It’s a shade that can be associated with vitality and health but, beyond certain smoothies, it hasn’t tended to be used much in functional beverages because of the technical challenges of achieving stable shades.”

Beyond color specific trends, industry experts also note that consumer experiences will take color concepts into exciting territories.

“There is a strong trend driven by the power of memory and a longing for past experiences,” says Kelly Newsome, global senior marketing manager of colors and savory flavors at ADM. “Consumers are increasingly drawn to colors that evoke familiarity, simplicity and comfort. This has led to the resurgence of nostalgic color palettes — both for younger generations experiencing them for the first time and for older consumers who see it as a reinvention of tradition. These colors speak to a shared human experience, evoking warmth and a sense of connection.

“On the other end of the spectrum, there’s a contrasting trend of bold experimentation with colors,” she continues. “This approach moves beyond the simple and familiar, transforming into something that sparks personal joy. As consumers seek positivity, vibrant and expressive colors guide them toward food and beverage experiences that feel meaningful and uplifting. This blend of nostalgia and unrestrained creativity is shaping the future of color in beverage product design.”

Sensient’s Skidmore also highlights that 2025 will be a year filled with innovation.

“While some projects may be more ‘renovation style’ as brands replace synthetic colors with natural alternatives in existing product lines, the real fun is always in entirely new launches,” Skidmore says. “We’ve been seeing more traction and success for brands with colorful seasonal launches, like McDonald’s famous Grimace milkshake, but also in new flavors and permanent line extensions.

“Our trends landscape reflects consumers’ desire to ‘have it all,’ with on-pack claims that support personal wellness or functional goals as well as unique and delicious taste experiences,” she concludes. “From bold, unexpected flavor pairings to new-to-you profiles with a global twist, we’re expecting a bright year for colorful innovation.”