M&M's goes natural in August, but blue and brown won't make the cut
M&M's is launching a natural, dye-free lineup in August 2026, but blue and brown are out. Here's why Mars couldn't replicate those colors with natural ingredients.
TASTE
6/25/20261 min read
M&M's is getting a natural makeover, but two of its most familiar colors won't be joining the party.
Mars, the company behind the candy-coated chocolates, is phasing out synthetic food dyes and launching a natural version of M&M's this August. The new lineup, however, will only come in four colors: red, green, yellow, and orange. Blue and brown didn't make it — not by choice, but because replicating them with natural ingredients proved too costly and too complicated.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Mars had little trouble recreating red, orange, yellow, and green using natural sources like turmeric and beets. Blue was another story. The most viable natural alternative is spirulina, a blue-green alga commonly used to color food and drinks. The problem is that spirulina costs significantly more than synthetic dye and requires seven times the amount needed to match M&M's signature shade of blue. Brown presented its own challenge too, partly because its formulation also relies on blue. With both colors running into the same wall, Mars decided to leave them out of the new FD&C-free lineup entirely.
Fans of the original mix can breathe easy, though. The classic M&M's with the full seven-color range — red, yellow, green, blue, orange, brown, and occasional purple — will remain on shelves. The new natural version launches exclusively on Amazon this August. Mars says it plans to bring blue and brown back into the natural lineup by 2028.
📸 Abubakir Abdusattorov & Yann Rimaz