Dye Free Candy: Deep Dive Into Food Colors

The bright red lollipop looks innocent enough. So does that colorful rainbow candy they got at the store. But recent research shows that Red 40, a common food dye, can damage DNA and disrupt gut health. 

Food dyes are so common in candy that we hardly notice them anymore. They're added to make treats look more appealing — because let's be honest, who wants to eat a gray lollipop? Our brains actually struggle to identify flavors correctly when food colors don't match our expectations. That strawberry candy better be red, or we might not even recognize the taste.

This psychological trick has turned into a public health concern. A comprehensive review of food dyes found that all nine FDA-approved colors have potential health risks. Three commonly used dyes — Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6 — can contain carcinogenic contaminants. And that's just the beginning of the problem.

Parents have extra reason to pay attention. A study of nearly 300 children found that artificial food dyes can increase hyperactive behavior. The effect was so significant that some countries now require warning labels on products containing these ingredients.

And that’s probably one of the major reasons why dye free candy is growing to be an exploding trend. 

_{Disclaimer: I discovered this trend using Exploding topics (I am an affiliate and a long-time fan of this tool), which has become my go-to resource for uncovering under-the-radar opportunities. While the tool doesn’t provide the research that comes with my newsletter, if you're into finding even more trends in all the fields, this tool is definitely worth a look.} 

Table of Contents

• Amazon's "dye-free" offerings

• Beyond Amazon: The Google search trail

• Why this matters and what you can do?

While the candy industry isn't slowing down — it's projected to reach $22.9 billion by 2030 — consumers are getting smarter about what they eat. The organic chocolate market alone is expected to hit $400.7 million by 2028, showing a clear shift toward more natural options.

This surge in health consciousness has candy makers scrambling to adapt. Some are returning to natural colorants like beet powder and carmine (though that second one might make you squirm — it comes from insects). But somehow it seems that no one actually is skipping colors altogether, somehow they won’t bet on the fact that taste matters more than appearance.

But enough chit chat. Let me show you what I found when I investigated the dye free candy trend.

I typed "dye-free candy" into Amazon's search bar and got 745 results. Something caught my eye right away — all these supposedly dye-free candies were suspiciously colorful. Let's look at what's actually being sold.

Amazon's "dye-free" offerings

YumEarth dominates the top spots with four out of five positions above the fold. Let's check their ingredients. Their Organic Giggles Chewy Candy contains: "organic cane sugar, organic rice syrup, organic palm oil, citric acid, organic flavors, turmeric (color), sodium citrate, organic sunflower lecithin, malic acid, (radish, sweet potato, carrot, blackcurrant) color, organic carnauba wax, spirulina (color), pectin."

Their marketing says "no food colorings," but I count at least seven different coloring agents. They've quietly switched their messaging to "no artificial dyes" — quite different from truly dye-free.

The company's background is interesting: founded by Rob Wunder (a mysterious figure with exactly five LinkedIn connections) and Sergio Bicas (who somehow juggles  six different management roles at different companies simultaneously — maybe all those "natural" candies give him super energy?).

Then there's Heaven & Earth in the search results. Their ingredient list? "glucose syrup, sugar, water, hydrogenated palm kernel oil, acidifying agent: malic acid, gum arabic, mono-and diglycerides, salt, flavoring, anthocyanins, soy lecithin (emulsifier)." Not exactly the clean label they're suggesting.

The real red flag? This brand, sold at Walmart and Whole Foods, doesn't even have a website. Distribution is handled by Kayco, a New Jersey-based kosher food distributor working with brands like Similac, Knorr, and Lipton. But the actual company and people behind Heaven & Earth? Complete mystery.

Beyond Amazon: The Google search trail

Finding no truly dye-free options on Amazon, I turned to Google. First result? YumEarth again — still with those same colored candies.

Second spot: Natural Candy Store, claiming "It's ALL dye-free!" in their dye-free section. Most of their selection is chocolate — naturally brown, so no need for added colors. But some of the candies made into thos section are a different story. E.g., Sunbursts candy-coated milk chocolate sunflower kernels tell a different story. Ingredients: "Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, milk, chocolate liquor, soy lecithin (an emulsifier), vanilla), sunflower kernel, sugar, gum arabic, titanium dioxide (food grade), tapioca dextrin, carnauba wax, natural food colorings (red cabbage color, turmeric color, annatto, plain caramel)."

That carnauba wax? It's the same stuff used to polish cars and shoes, soluble only in petroleum ether, benzene, chloroform, or toluene. And titanium dioxide? That's a whitening agent used in paint, and well there’s 4 food coloring agens again. The dye is still there.

Third up on Google results for “dye free candy” is Walmart's "dye-free" selection. Let's check some of their offerings:

Unreal Candy's ingredients: "milk chocolate (organic chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, nonfat milk, whole milk powder, cane sugar, organic blue agave inulin, sunflower lecithin, vanilla), organic cane sugar, gum acacia, colored with (turmeric, beet juice, spirulina extract, red radish juice), organic tapioca syrup, carnauba wax."

Honest Gummies lists: "organic sugar, organic tapioca syrup, organic apple juice concentrate, organic white grape juice concentrate, organic maltodextrin, organic inulin" — and that's just the start. they add separate "color added (organic carrot concentrate, organic spirulina concentrate, organic apple concentrate, organic pumpkin concentrate, organic blackcurrant concentrate)" despite already using fruit juices. Why the extra coloring if they're using real fruit?

Starburst Goodies straight up lists "colors (purple carrot juice concentrate, beta-carotene)" as separate ingredients. Try searching for "purple carrot juice concentrate" — you won't find it for sale anywhere because it's an industrial food additive, not something from nature.

I don’t know about you, but when I search for dye-free candy, I expect products without added coloring agents — not this semantic game of "natural" versus "artificial" dyes. These industrial concentrates and processed color additives might be marketed as natural, but they're far from what you'd find in actual natural foods. 

Why this matters and what you can do?

I spent a month digging through candy labels and researching manufacturers. What I found doesn't make me happy. Not a single colorful candy marketed as "dye-free" actually lives up to that claim.

The companies selling these candies won't tell us how they make their "natural" color concentrates. That's pretty odd for an ingredient that's supposedly just crushed up vegetables. 

And yeah, maybe these natural color additives are safer than Red 40. But that's not really the point. Companies are slapping "dye-free" labels on products that quite clearly contain dyes — they're just using different names for them. All those fancy "concentrates" and "natural colors" are still processed in industrial facilities, no matter how wholesome the marketing makes them sound.

You might wonder why I'm making such a big deal about this. Well, when companies play word games with ingredients, they're messing with people's health choices. And that's just not okay.

So what can we do? It’s not ideal, but pretty simple, actually. If you want colorful candy truely without any dyes (natural or artificial), you'll need to make it yourself. Some creative home cooks on Reddit shared many tips you can borrow (for instance, in this, this or this threads).  You can use actual fruit purees and things like saffran and turmeric for color. Yeah, the colors won't be as bright as store-bought candy, but at least you know exactly what's in them.

Or just go for naturally less colorful treats like 90% chocolate. Funny how nobody expects chocolate to be bright purple, right? We eat it because it tastes good (and it also can be healthy), not because it's neon-colored.

Me? I'm sticking with treats where I can understand every ingredient on the label. If a company won't tell me how they make their "natural" colors, I don't really want to eat them. How about you?