In-N-Out Announces Removal Of Artificial Dyes And Sweeteners To Multiple Items, Echoing RFK Jr. Concerns

Drivers wait in the drive-thru line at an In-N-Out Burger restaurant in Alhambra, California, on August 30, 2018. - California's Democratic Party Chairman, Eric Bauman, is calling for a boycott of the Irvine, CA based fast food chain after it donated $25,000 to help California Republicans in November. In addition to this week's donation, In-N-Out donated $30,000 to the GOP in 2017 and 2016. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP) (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)
Drivers wait in the drive-thru line at an In-N-Out Burger restaurant in Alhambra, California. (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

OAN Staff Blake Wolf
1:53 PM – Wednesday, May 14, 2025

An In-N-Out spokesperson announced that the popular fast food chain will be removing artificial dyes and sweeteners to multiple items on its menu, following Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s push to “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA).

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The West Coast-based burger chain noted that it is removing artificial dyes from its strawberry milkshakes and its pink lemonade.

In addition, In-N-Out is currently undergoing a transition to a new ketchup formulation that utilizes real sugar, replacing the previous version, which was sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup.

“As part of our ongoing commitment to providing our customers with the highest-quality ingredients, we have removed artificial coloring from our Strawberry Shakes and Signature Pink Lemonade,” an In-N-Out spokesperson told KTLA on Wednesday. “We’re also in the process of transitioning to an upgraded ketchup, which is made with real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.”

Kennedy Jr. has been a vocal critic of high-fructose corn syrup, characterizing the ingredient as a “formula for making you [both] obese and diabetic.”

Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced last month that it is phasing out eight commonly used petroleum-based artificial food dyes from the U.S. food supply by 2026 — starting with Citrus Red No. 2 and Orange B.

“For too long, some food producers have been feeding Americans petroleum-based chemicals without their knowledge or consent,” Kennedy Jr. stated. “These poisonous compounds offer no nutritional benefit and pose real, measurable dangers to our children’s health and development. That era is coming to an end. We’re restoring gold-standard science, applying common sense, and beginning to earn back the public’s trust. And we’re doing it by working with industry to get these toxic dyes out of the foods our families eat every day.”

Steak n’ Shake, another chain known for its classic American menu, also recently announced a shift to using beef tallow for its fries, as opposed to seed oils, after Kennedy Jr. called for the food industry to move away from seed oils. Due to their high unsaturation, seed oils are more prone to oxidation and rancidity. Oxidized fats can produce free radicals, which are harmful to cells and can contribute to various health problems. 

“Seed oil is one of the components of processed foods, and all the science indicates that ultra processed foods are the principal culprit in this extraordinary explosion, the epidemic we have of chronic disease,” he recently stated.

Earlier this week the FDA approved three natural food colorants — Galdieria blue, a new acid stable natural blue color from phycocyanin rich algae, butterfly pea extract, a natural colorant and flavoring agent derived from the flowers of the Clitoria ternatea plant, and calcium phosphate, a family of chemical compounds containing calcium and phosphate ions — replacing synthetic petroleum-based dyes.

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