Snacks without Red Dye 40
A swap list, not a health-food list — organized by the shelf the dyed snack came from, because that is how the substitution actually has to work. Every pick's ingredient panel was read, and the date we read it is on the card.
The reason dye-free attempts stall is almost never willpower. It is that the replacement offered is not a replacement — a child who asked for fruit snacks and was handed an apple has not been given a substitute, they have been given a refusal. So this list is organized by what the dyed snack was, shelf by shelf.
Brands in this guide
- Annie's Homegrown1 pick
- Late July1 pick
- Simple Mills1 pick
Bare1 pick · safety review
Partake Foods1 pick · safety review- Made Good1 pick
- Three Wishes1 pick
- Lesserevil1 pick
Our picks
Cheat-sheet winners
The winners from our cheat sheet, each chosen for one job.
Cookies
Partake Foods Gluten Free Partake Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookies
No FD&C color on the panel; the chocolate and molasses supply the color. The maker says it is free of the top nine allergens; we do not verify allergen status.
- No Red Dye 40
- Dye-Free
Ingredient panel checked · source
$18.99View on Amazon
Swap the category, not the diet
The reason dye-free attempts stall is almost never willpower. It is that the replacement offered is not a replacement — a child who asked for fruit snacks and was handed an apple has not been given a substitute, they have been given a refusal.
So this list is organized by what the dyed snack was. Each section below is one shelf of the shop, with a note on how reliably that shelf carries Red 40 and what to look for on the panel, followed by what we would put in the trolley instead.
Where Red 40 actually is
The risk is not spread evenly, and treating it as though it were is what makes going dye-free feel enormous. In practice it concentrates hard:
Candy is where the color is the product. A gray Skittle is not a Skittle, so this shelf is dyed close to universally and the swap has to be chosen rather than substituted.
Fruit snacks used to belong in that sentence and no longer do. Both of the mainstream ones we checked in September 2026 — Welch's and Annie's — now color with fruit and vegetable juice, annatto and turmeric, and Welch's says plainly that its fruit snacks are made with no artificial dyes. This is the shelf that has moved most, and moved recently.
Chips, cookies, cereal and drinks carry narrower risk. The plain versions are usually clean; the dye lives in the flavored, iced, frosted, multicolored and seasonal editions. On these shelves reading the panel genuinely works, because there is usually an undyed sibling sitting next to the dyed one — sometimes from the same company, on the same shelf, that same week.
Plain, savory and unflavored everything — popcorn, nuts, crackers, plain biscuits — is mostly fine. We would rather say that plainly than manufacture a worry to fill out a list.
The answers surprised us in both directions
We read the current manufacturer listing for nineteen named products for this update. Four carry Red 40: Cheetos Flamin' Hot, Takis Fuego, Skittles, and Frosted Strawberry Pop-Tarts. Two depend entirely on which one you pick up: Doritos, where the standard bag is dyed and Frito-Lay's own Simply NKD version is not, and Kool-Aid Jammers, where Cherry lists Red 40 and Tropical Punch lists Blue 1 instead.
The other thirteen are clean, and several are ones we would have guessed wrong. Goldfish — all three varieties we read, including the multicolored Colors bag — use plant and spice extracts. Capri Sun Fruit Punch colors with vegetable juice. Cheez-It uses annatto and paprika. So do Veggie Straws, with turmeric and beetroot.
Two of those clean answers come with an asterisk we would rather state than hide: Sunny D has no Red 40 and does list Yellow 5 and Yellow 6, and Kool-Aid Jammers Tropical Punch has no Red 40 and does list Blue 1. If Red 40 is the specific thing you are avoiding, both pass. If it is synthetic color generally, neither does.
Every one of those answers links to the page we read it on and carries the date. That matters more here than on most subjects. Welch's states on its own page that its fruit snacks are now made without artificial dyes; Frito-Lay's Simply NKD line did not exist a couple of years ago. Products move, and this page will go stale the same way — which is why the date is on every answer rather than a single "last updated" line at the top.
If you're changing more than one shelf
Everything above works as a one-at-a-time swap. If you're doing more than one shelf at once, it goes better staged than done all at once — clearing the whole pantry in an afternoon reads as punishment to a kid and puts a dozen replacement decisions on the same overwhelming day.
Work down from what's eaten most often, not from what looks most alarming: drinks and fruit snacks first, because they're eaten daily and the swap barely registers. Then the categories almost everyone forgets — medicines, chewable vitamins, toothpaste — because a daily gummy vitamin can outweigh everything fixed in the snack cupboard. Occasions (parties, school, grandparents) come last and get one clear sentence, not a policy; fighting a birthday cake costs goodwill you'll want later.
If part of the reason you're doing this is to find out whether dye actually affects your child, one thing is worth saying before the method: the evidence linking food dyes to behavior is mixed, and where researchers have found an effect it has been in a subset of children rather than across the board. There is no "dye sensitivity" you can diagnose at the kitchen table, and this is not a substitute for a pediatrician — if you think a reaction is significant, or if you are considering a long-term elimination diet, that is a conversation to have with one. What the research actually says is a fuller answer than this page can give.
What you can do at home is stop guessing from a good week. After two to three genuinely clean weeks, reintroduce one dye-heavy item on one day and watch for two days — ideally with a second adult who doesn't know which day was the test. The blinding matters more than it sounds: parents who expect a reaction tend to see one, and parents who expect nothing tend to miss one. If nothing happens, that's a real answer and you can stop spending attention on it.
About the deadlines you may have read about
Worth being precise here, because the two tracks get conflated constantly.
Red 3 is being removed under a binding FDA order: revoked January 15, 2025, with food and beverages required to comply by January 15, 2027 and ingested drugs by January 18, 2028.
Red 40 is not. It sits in the group of six petroleum-based dyes covered by the voluntary phase-out request announced on April 22, 2025. Manufacturers have been asked, not required. Several large companies have published timelines running into 2026 and 2027; others have published nothing.
Which means the practical advice does not change for now: read the panel. If you want the wider picture — what each dye is, which products carry which, and how the two regulatory tracks differ — start with what Red Dye 40 is found in, or read what actually happened with Red 3 if it's the binding deadline you want explained. Baking rather than shopping? Natural food coloring covers plant-based color for frosting and cake.
Prices and availability on the cards below update from the live catalog, so what you see is current.
Our top pick
- USDA Organic
- No Red Dye 40
- Dye-Free
Addresses: Artificial Dyes, Red Dye 40
Ingredient panel checked · source
Fruit snacks
Usually has itThe single most reliable source of Red 40 in a lunchbox. They are eaten daily rather than occasionally, they are marketed directly at children, and the color is the point — a pale gummy does not sell. This is the one shelf to change first.
What to check on this shelf
- "Made with real fruit" is a claim about juice content and is fully compatible with synthetic color.
- Look for "colored with fruit and vegetable juice" or a named source like black carrot — not just the absence of the word dye.
- Variety packs mix formulations; the panel covers the whole box, so read for every flavor listed.
Annie's Organic Bunny Fruit Flavored Snacks, Variety Pack, 22 ct, 15.4 oz | Fun Halloween Treats, Summer Strawberry & Berry Patch Flavors, Certified USDA Organic, Great for Lunchboxes
Our overall top pick — see the card at the top of this page.
Same format, same shape of treat, color from black carrot and black currant. It is the swap that gets noticed least, which on this shelf is the entire job.
Drinks and juice pouches
Often has itThe shelf most likely to be missed, because a drink does not feel like a snack — and the one where a single daily habit outweighs a week of careful shopping. It has also changed the most: several of the pouches parents assume are dyed have quietly reformulated, while others in the same brand's own range have not. Reading the panel genuinely works here.
What to check on this shelf
- Check the flavor, not the brand. Kool-Aid Jammers Cherry lists Red 40; Tropical Punch, on the same manufacturer's site, lists Blue 1 and no Red 40.
- A drink can be dye-free of Red 40 and still be dyed — Sunny D's Tangy Original lists Yellow 5 and Yellow 6.
- Powder, concentrate, zero-sugar and ready-to-drink versions of the same flavor are separate formulations. One being clean says nothing about the others.
- Sports and electrolyte drinks are a distinct category and are dyed more often than juice pouches.
Chips and crackers
Often has itPlain salted chips are usually clean. The risk sits entirely in the flavored ones — nacho, chilli-lime, flamin' hot — where the orange-red coating is doing the work that Red 40 and Yellow 6 were added for. If the chip leaves color on a finger, read the panel.
What to check on this shelf
- Seasoned and "dusted" varieties are the risk; the same brand's plain bag often is not.
- Color from tomato powder, paprika or bell pepper is a food; Red 40 Lake is not.
- Cheese-flavored does not mean colored by cheese — check for Yellow 6 as well as Red 40.
Ingredient panel checked · source
A nacho-cheese chip that gets its orange from paprika extract, tomato powder and bell pepper powder — the same job Yellow 6 and Red 40 do on the standard bag. For a child who asks for a nacho chip by shape and color rather than by brand, this is the closest like-for-like on the shelf. (Frito-Lay's own dye-free Simply NKD line is real and worth looking for — see the Doritos answer below — but it goes in and out of stock in the catalog we price against, so we point at one that does not.)
Ingredient panel checked · source
The cracker slot, for lunchboxes and for anything that needs to carry cheese. Short panel, no coloring of any kind.
Ingredient panel checked · source
Crunch and sweetness with nothing added but apple — the closest thing on this list to a snack with a one-word ingredient panel.
| Attribute | Late JulyOrganic Snacks Nacho Cheese Tortilla Chips | Simple MillsAlmond Flour Crackers | BareBaked Crunchy Apple Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.34 | $6.66 | $4.99 |
| Availability | In stock | In stock | In stock |
Cookies and sweet baked
Often has itThe biscuit itself is rarely dyed. The color lives in what is on or in it — icing, sprinkles, candy-coated pieces, and the seasonal and character-branded versions, which are reformulated for looks and routinely carry color the plain version does not.
What to check on this shelf
- Iced, filled, sprinkled and "funfetti" variants are where the dye is.
- Holiday and character editions of an otherwise clean cookie are frequently recolored.
- Yogurt-covered and candy-shelled anything: coatings are where Lake pigments live.
- No Red Dye 40
- Dye-Free
Addresses: Artificial Dyes, Red Dye 40
Ingredient panel checked · source
A real cookie for when the request is specifically for a cookie. That matters more than it looks — the swaps that fail are the ones that answer a request for a treat with something visibly not a treat.
- No Red Dye 40
- Dye-Free
Addresses: Artificial Dyes, Red Dye 40
Ingredient panel checked · source
The lunchbox filler. Chewy, individually wrapped, and formulated with school environments in mind, which is usually the constraint that decides what can go in the bag at all.
| Attribute | Partake FoodsGluten Free Partake Crunchy Chocolate Chip Co… | Made GoodMadeGood Granola Variety Pack 37-Count Chewy… |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $18.99 | $32.99 |
| Verified for | No Red Dye 40, Dye-Free | No Red Dye 40, Dye-Free |
| Availability | In stock | In stock |
Candy and gummies
Usually has itThe highest-risk shelf in the shop, and the one where "read the panel" is least useful, because on most of it the answer is simply yes. Color is the product: a gray Skittle is not a Skittle. This is the category where a swap has to be chosen rather than substituted.
What to check on this shelf
- Shells, coatings and anything glossy — Lake pigments are used precisely because they survive a coating.
- "Natural flavors" says nothing about color; the two are separate ingredient categories.
- Organic certification does rule out synthetic color, which makes it a fast filter on this shelf.
Cereal and breakfast
Often has itA small number of very high-volume products carry almost all of the risk. The multicolored ring and loop cereals are dyed by definition; most plain flakes, oats and puffed grains are not. It is a shelf where the answer is usually visible from across the aisle.
What to check on this shelf
- If the cereal is multicolored, assume synthetic color until the panel says otherwise.
- Frosted and "berry" varieties of an otherwise plain cereal are the common trap.
- Marshmallow pieces are almost always separately colored.
Ingredient panel checked · source
An uncolored ring cereal that still reads as cereal to a child — which is the bar a breakfast swap has to clear on a school morning. One thing to know: a November 2025 California Proposition 65 notice names this unsweetened cereal for lead — an allegation that it was sold without a warning label, not a contamination finding, and the state's register showed no case or settlement on it as of October 2026.
Cheese-flavored, frozen and baked
Usually has itWorth naming even though this page is about Red 40, because these are the categories that undo a careful month. Cheese crackers, boxed mac and cheese and cheese puffs carry Yellow 5 and Yellow 6 rather than Red 40; freezer pops carry Red 40 AND Blue 1; sprinkles and frosting carry everything at once.
The all-dye list — cheese-flavored things, the freezer aisle, the birthday table →
Popcorn and savory
Rarely has itMostly clean, and worth saying so plainly rather than manufacturing a worry. Plain, salted and butter popcorn is almost never dyed. The exceptions are the bright ones — cheese-flavored, caramel-and-candy mixes, and anything sold in a color.
What to check on this shelf
- Cheese-flavored popcorn is the usual exception; check for Yellow 6 as well as Red 40.
- Caramel and "party mix" blends often include separately colored pieces.
Ingredient panel checked · source
The salty, share-a-bowl slot, with a notably short panel — three ingredients doing the work that a longer list usually does.
The ones people ask about
Straight answers about the packets already in the cupboard. Formulations change and varieties differ, so the panel on your box is always the final word.
- Does Goldfish have Red 40?No Red 40
- No — and this is the answer most parents get wrong, us included until we read the panels. Three panels, all on Pepperidge Farm's own goldfishsmiles.com: the original Cheddar (/classics/cheddar-baked-snack-crackers) lists annatto inside the cheese plus paprika; Colors, the multicolored bag everyone assumes is the dyed one, lists "Colors (Beet, Huito And Watermelon Juice Concentrates, Paprika And Turmeric Extracts)"; and Flavor Blasted Xtra Cheddar (/flavored/flavor-blasted-xtra-cheddar-baked-snack-crackers) lists "Paprika Extract (Color)". No FD&C color in any of the three. The link below is the Colors panel, which is the one people ask about; we read three bags and not the whole range, so a seasonal or character edition is worth reading on its own terms. Source (checked )
- Do Takis have Red 40?Contains Red 40
- Yes. Barcel's own product page for Takis Fuego gives the artificial color as Red 40 Lake and Yellow 6 Lake. The coating is the product, and Lake pigments are used precisely because they survive it. Other Takis varieties were not individually checked, and Barcel does not publish a company-wide color commitment we could find. Source (checked )
- Do Cheetos have Red 40?Contains Red 40
- Crunchy Flamin' Hot does. Frito-Lay's own SmartLabel entry lists the Flamin' Hot seasoning's "Artificial Color" as "Red 40 Lake, Yellow 6 Lake, Yellow 6, Yellow 5" — four synthetic colors in the one coating. Frito-Lay's Simply NKD line includes a Flamin' Hot Crunchy Cheetos made without them; the regular bag is unchanged. Source (checked )
- Do Skittles have Red 40?Contains Red 40
- Yes, in both forms. The Original panel on the brand's own site reads "Colors (Red 40 Lake, Yellow 5 Lake, Blue 2 Lake, Yellow 6 Lake, Blue 1 Lake, Yellow 6, Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 1)" — nine color entries in a list that is otherwise sugar, corn syrup and palm kernel oil. On this shelf, substitution is the only route; reading the panel will not find you a dye-free Skittle. Source (checked )
- Does Doritos still have Red 40?Varies by flavor
- By bag. Standard Nacho Cheese, on Frito-Lay's own SmartLabel, lists "Artificial Color Yellow 6 Yellow 5 Red 40". The Simply NKD Nacho Cheese entry on the same system lists no color of any kind — the whole ingredient list ends at yeast extract. These are two products on the same shelf rather than an old and a new version of one, so the swap is a different bag, not a different date. Source (checked )
- Do Cheez-Its have Red 40?No Red 40
- No. The panel gives the color as "annatto extract color" inside the cheese and, separately, "paprika" and "paprika extract color" — and the brand's own page says the cracker "has no artificial colors". A useful correction to the instinct that a bright orange cracker must be dyed. Source (checked )
- Does Smartfood White Cheddar popcorn have Red 40?No Red 40
- No, and it carries no added color at all. The full list on Frito-Lay's own SmartLabel is popcorn, vegetable oil, natural flavors, whey, maltodextrin, buttermilk, cheddar cheese and salt. Cheese-flavored popcorn is the usual exception on this shelf, so this one is worth knowing by name rather than guessing. Source (checked )
- Do Veggie Straws have Red 40?No Red 40
- No. The Sea Salt panel ends "SPINACH POWDER, SEA SALT, TOMATO PASTE, TURMERIC EXTRACT (COLOR), BEETROOT POWDER (COLOR)" — the three colors are the three vegetables. Note the brand is now sold as Garden Veggie Snacks rather than Sensible Portions; same product, new packaging. Source (checked )
- Do Pop-Tarts have Red 40?Contains Red 40
- Frosted Strawberry does. The panel on the brand's own site ends "soy lecithin, red 40, yellow 6, blue 1, color added" — and note the trailing "color added", which discloses that something further is in there without naming it. Other flavors are separate formulations and were not individually checked. Source (checked )
- Do Oreos have Red 40?No Red 40
- The Original does not. The whole list is flour, sugar, oils, cocoa, high fructose corn syrup, leavening, salt, soy lecithin, chocolate and artificial flavor — no color named. That is a statement about color and nothing else: the panel still carries an artificial flavor, and seasonal and flavored-creme editions are separate formulations. Source (checked )
- Do Ritz crackers have Red 40?No Red 40
- No. The Original panel on Mondelez's own SmartLabel ends "HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, SOY LECITHIN, NATURAL FLAVOR" with no color declared anywhere in the list. Source (checked )
- Do Wheat Thins have Red 40?No Red 40
- No. The Original list is eight items long — "WHOLE GRAIN WHEAT FLOUR, CANOLA OIL, SUGAR, CORNSTARCH, MALT SYRUP, SALT, REFINER'S SYRUP, LEAVENING" — with no color of any kind. The BHT on this one is in the packaging, not the cracker, which the panel says explicitly. Source (checked )
- Do Teddy Grahams have Red 40?No Red 40
- The Honey ones do not — no color is declared on the panel at all. Worth knowing because they are one of the few lunchbox items that reads to a child as a treat and to an adult as a cracker. Source (checked )
- Do Welch's Fruit Snacks have Red 40?No Red 40
- Not any more, and this is the single biggest change on the fruit-snack shelf. The Mixed Fruit panel colors with "annatto (color), turmeric (color), and fruit and vegetable juice (color)", and the brand states that all its fruit snacks are now made with no artificial dyes. Older bags can still be in circulation, so the panel in your hand is the tiebreaker. Source (checked )
- Do Annie's Bunny Fruit Snacks have Red 40?No Red 40
- No. Summer Strawberry lists "Organic Color (organic black carrot, organic black currant extracts)"; other flavors swap in other plant extracts such as annatto. Organic certification rules out synthetic color outright, which is what makes it a fast filter on this shelf. Source (checked )
- Does GoGo squeeZ have Red 40?No Red 40
- No, and the Apple Apple pouch has the shortest panel of anything on this page: "APPLE, APPLE PUREE CONCENTRATE, LEMON JUICE CONCENTRATE." No color additive of any kind is listed. Source (checked )
- Does Capri Sun have Red 40?No Red 40
- The Fruit Punch pouch does not — Kraft Heinz's own panel gives the color as "VEGETABLE JUICE (FOR COLOR)". This is the one most parents expect to go the other way, and it is the reason the drinks shelf is worth reading rather than assuming. Source (checked )
- Do Kool-Aid Jammers have Red 40?Varies by flavor
- By flavor, and the split is on Kraft Heinz's own site. Jammers Cherry lists "RED 40". Jammers Tropical Punch lists "BLUE 1" and no Red 40 — a blue dye in a drink sold as tropical punch, which is a good reminder that the color in the bottle does not predict the color on the label. Zero Sugar versions are separate formulations again. Source (checked )
- Does Sunny D have Red 40?No Red 40
- Tangy Original does not — but it is not dye-free. The panel ends "POTASSIUM SORBATE TO PROTECT FLAVOR, YELLOW #5, YELLOW #6, CALCIUM DISODIUM EDTA TO PROTECT COLOR." If Red 40 is the only thing you are avoiding, this passes. If you are avoiding synthetic color generally, it does not, and we would rather say so than let a green tick do the work. Source (checked )
The traps in this aisle
- "Made with real fruit" — A claim about juice content, entirely compatible with synthetic color. It is the single most effective piece of packaging on this shelf.
- "No artificial flavors" read as a color claim — Different ingredient category. Plenty of products carry that claim and Red 40 together, truthfully.
- Yogurt-covered and candy-coated anything — Coatings and shells are where Lake pigments live, because they survive the coating process.
- Variety packs with one dyed item — Multipacks routinely mix formulations. The panel covers the whole box, so read for every flavor listed.
- Seasonal and character editions — A cookie or cereal that is clean all year is often recolored for a holiday or a film tie-in.
How we choose
We read the ingredient panel of every pick for FD&C colors and their Lake variants, and we record the date we read it — it is on each card. We prefer color from food sources where color is used at all, favor formats that survive a backpack, and pick against the snacks children actually ask for rather than proposing raw vegetables as a substitute for candy. The yes-or-no answers further down follow the same rule and carry a link to the exact page we read it on: every one is the manufacturer's own current listing — a brand site or its own SmartLabel entry — never a retailer page, a database or a memory of what the box used to say.
- No FD&C synthetic color, including Lake variants, on the panel we read
- Replaces a specific dye-heavy snack a child already eats
- Short, readable ingredient panel
- Holds up in a lunchbox or a car
- No active recall on the pick
- Every named-brand answer sourced to the manufacturer's own listing, linked and dated
Every source we cite is checked against our criteria first — see how we check our sources.
What the research says
Of roughly 10,000 chemicals allowed in food or in contact with food, more than 3,000 have never been substantively reviewed by the FDA. Under the self-affirmed or 'secret' GRAS pathway a company can conclude on its own that an ingredient is safe and begin using it without notifying the FDA, so the number of such determinations is unknowable.
— A Center for Science in the Public Interest report authored by Thomas Galligan, PhD found ...
How food companies sneak new ingredients past the FDA — Center for Science in the Public Interest
Pound for pound, children are breathing more air, eating more food, and drinking more water, so they have greater exposure.
— Leonardo Trasande, MD, MPP of NYU Langone Health explains that ...
Toys, Shampoo, Makeup - Dr. Leonardo Trasande Is Exposing the Dangerous Chemicals in Everyday Products — NYU Langone Health
A flexible 9-day road map for safely introducing top allergens
— Malina Malkani, MS, RDN, CDN told BenBella Books (distributed by Simon & Schuster), ISBN 9781637745359 that ...
Safe and Simple Food Allergy Prevention: A Baby-Led Feeding Guide to Starting Solids and Introducing Top Allergens — BenBella Books (distributed by Simon & Schuster), ISBN 9781637745359 (2024-11-12)
Sources
- HHS and FDA to phase out petroleum-based synthetic dyes from the food supply (April 22, 2025) — U.S. Food and Drug Administration (how we check this source)
- FD&C Red No. 3 — revocation and the January 2027 / January 2028 compliance dates — U.S. Food and Drug Administration (how we check this source)
- Color additives history — certified colors must be batch-certified and declared by name — U.S. Food and Drug Administration (how we check this source)
- Summary of color additives for use in the United States — U.S. Food and Drug Administration (how we check this source)
- Organic certification prohibits synthetic color — the National List of allowed and prohibited substances — USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (how we check this source)
Common questions
The cheat sheet for this
Part of the Food Dyes hub— the rest of our coverage in this category.
Every dye-free snacksproduct we've reviewed— what we'd buy, what we'd skip, and where each one stands.