13 Products Made With Natural Food Colors
Looking for a naturally-colored alternatives for things like candy and sprinkles? Here are 13 products without food dyes.
Maybe you feel a little iffy about food dyes.
Or maybe you just don’t think your kid does well with them.
Luckily there are lots of natural alternatives on the market these days, for everything from bright-colored candy to brilliant hues of frosting.
Are food dyes safe?
Synthetic dyes like Red 3 and Blue 2 been around for decades and the FDA says they’re safe, but there’s still controversy.
That’s because there’s evidence that dyes may have an adverse effect on kids, worsening symptoms like inattention and hyperactivity in some children with ADHD–and even in some kids who don’t have ADHD.
Even the FDA says, “Most children have no adverse effects when consuming foods containing color additives, but some evidence suggests that certain children may be sensitive to them.”
I dug into all the research here to answer your questions: Is Artificial Food Coloring Safe For Kids?
Products made with natural food colors
I reached out to Real Mom Nutrition readers whose children have sensitivities to food dyes and asked for their favorite naturally-colored versions of typically-dyed food like candy and cake sprinkles.
All of these products are either ones they recommended or ones that I like, and they all use natural food colors from plants for their hues.
It goes without saying, but using natural colors instead of synthetic food dyes doesn’t magically make candy and cupcake sprinkles “healthy”, but these are great options if you’re looking to avoid synthetic dyes!
Naturally Colored Candy
- 1 YumEarth Organic Lollipops
- 2 TruSweets Candy Canes (currently unavailable, try YumEarth Organic Candy Canes)
- 3 Black Forest Gummy Bears
- 4 Trader Joe’s Gourmet Jelly Beans
- 5 UnReal Candies
Naturally Colored Cake Decorating
- 6 Color Kitchen Food Coloring
- 7 McCormick Color Nature Food Coloring
- 8 India Tree Sprinkles
- 9 Color Kitchen Sprinkles
Naturally Colored Baking
- 10 Immaculate Baking Company Crescent Rolls
- 11 Pillsbury Purely Simple Cake Mix (currently unavailable, try Annie’s Yellow Cake Mix instead)
- 12 Annie’s Crescent Rolls
- 13 King Arthur Flour Baking Mix & Frosting Pack
How to make your own natural food coloring
Yes! Here are 3 Ways to Make Naturally Colored Frosting. And here’s a recipe for Naturally Colored Pink Berry Frosting.
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My granddaughter cannot have red #40 (It makes her nauseous, My niece also couldn’t learn with it). and yellow food dye makes her very hyper. We like Mamba fruit chews which are kind of like Starburst, and Fruit Mentos which are like big Skittles. Both are easy to find in regular stores. We get Mombas at the dollar store, and Mentos at the check out of the grocery store. All my grandkids love them!
I’m also researching how to get rid of food dyes in my grocery shopping…. I have a child with PANDAS/PANS.
The Chex cereal we have in our cabinet has Red40 and Blue1 added to it ! Why???? Why??? The cereal itself js Brown!?!? Does it NEED coloring?
Red 40 is known to cause hyperactivity in children . Do we need to keep poisoning ourselves and our kids?
Frustrated Mom
Check the ingredients in Black Forest Gummys. Some of them have artificial dyes. I found out the hard way. Juicy Bears has artificial dyes, the package looks the same as the others, and I served them to my kids and nephew, they have red and blue dye allergies.
Cool roundup! I don’t typically guard my kids against all the brightly-colored things when were out and about, since fortunately none of my people are allergic; but I’d also rather not add artificial dyes to homemade foods at home! My hack has usually been “white frosting only” – but this could be a lovely addition! Love that these products are available in the main stream!