The Food Scientists Working to Change the Colors You Eat

Illustration credit: Nicholas Konrad | The New Yorker

Do you notice or pay attention to the color of the foods you eat? If not, it may be high time to think again, as changing or dropping such colors can apparently make once-relished foods seem “repulsive.” That’s one of the findings reported by Shayla Love in her August 2025 synthesis in The New Yorker of current food science research into viable substitutes for non-natural dyes, some of which may pose health hazards for consumers. Read Love’s report—and see if you feel differently about those oh-so-blue M&M’s. 

Read it here.

EXPLORE, REFLECT, SPEAK UP.

1. In her opening, Love avoids the controversy swirling around Robert F. Kennedy, Jr’s often-exaggerated claims about the “toxic” effect of dyes, especially on children, instead beginning with a reference to President Biden’s move to ban Red dye #3 before mentioning the current Secretary of Health and Human Services. Why do you think Love chooses this opening strategy? In what ways might it add to her credibility as a reporter?  

2. The information Love presents is often highly detailed—some might even say tedious. What strategies does she use to help keep readers engaged? Note, for instance, that in paragraph two she quotes an FDA commissioner who evokes “laughter and applause” when he suggests substituting watermelon or beet juice for “petroleum-based red dye.” Look for other places where Love uses direct quotations to make her report more lively. And what other strategies can you find that help to keep readers’ attention? How effective do you think they are? 

3. LET’S TALK. For at least three meals, make a list of everything you eat—and its color. Bring these lists to class and then, in groups of 3 to 5, discuss your findings, considering the variety of colors you experienced, how those colors seemed to affect your experience (or not), whether or not you have a preference for particular colors in food—and if so, where such preferences come from. Also consider whether this experiment and reading Love’s article have changed your thinking on the role color plays in your enjoyment of food and how you feel about changing to “all natural” colors in food.  

4. AND NOW WRITE. Try your hand at writing a 100–150-word summary of Love’s article. Then see if you can capture the essence of the article in 20 to 25 words. Finally, try creating a meme that might attract others to consider the issues Love raises regarding artificial colors in food. Then write a paragraph evaluating the success of each one.