The big talk in the food world this year has been about the ingredients found in the U.S. foodways. This year started with the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) revoking the authorization for the synthetic food dye FD&C Red No. 3, with plans to eliminate the six remaining synthetic dyes by the end of 2026, including FD&C Green No. 3, FD&C Red No. 40, FD&C Yellow No. 5, FD&C Yellow No. 6, FD&C Blue No. 1, and FD&C Blue No. 2.
Since the FDA’s January announcement, many major companies, including Nestlé, Sam’s Club, and Hershey, have declared plans to remove the color additives and use natural colorings instead. Some companies have also decided to use this requirement as an opportunity to reformulate other parts of their products, such as removing artificial flavors, preservatives, and high-fructose corn syrup.
Lay’s is the most recent brand to announce a major change to its products—and it includes the biggest global refresh in the brand’s nearly century-long history.
Lay’s To Remove Artificial Flavors and Colors by End of 2025
Lay’s
Lay’s plans to remove both artificial colors and artificial flavors from its potato chips by the end of 2025. Instead, its chips will all use natural flavors, made from “spice, fruit, vegetable, yeast, herb, plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products,” and coloring from natural sources, like vegetable juice and paprika.
All Lay’s, Lay’s Baked, Lay’s Kettle Cooked, and any new product innovation released after 2025 will meet this standard.
In addition to removing artificial colors and flavors, Lay’s is also changing the recipe for some of its Lay’s Baked and Lay’s Kettle Cooked chips to offer less fat than regular potato chips. Lay’s Baked chips will now be made with olive oil instead of corn oil, and Lay’s Kettle Cooked Reduced Fat Original Sea Salt chips will use avocado oil instead of the current mixture of vegetable oil.
Lay’s new potato chip recipes deserve a new look, too, so Lay’s is debuting its “most ambitious” refresh since the company began making chips in 1938. The new look includes changes to every aspect of Lay’s visual look, including a new logo, packaging, photography, and color palette.
The new potato chip bags will highlight that Lay’s are made from real potatoes, which the brand says nearly 42 percent of consumers are unaware of. Additionally, the logo features more modern typography, a wood-paneled backdrop that nods to the potato’s farm crates, and more Lay’s “rays” to exude light from the shelf.
Lay’s refresh will touch every potato chip bag in the U.S. and beyond, with redesigns for the logos of the U.K.’s Walkers, Mexico’s Sabritas, Colombia’s Margarita, and more.
While this announcement is specific to Lay’s and doesn’t reflect all Frito-Lay brands, such as Doritos, Cheetos, and SunChips, the FDA has provided an Industry Tracker for brands that have pledged to remove petroleum-based food dyes from their products. In addition to Lay’s, PepsiCo has said that it will relaunch Tostitos chips “without certified color additives by the end of 2025.”
Once you start seeing the refreshed packages of Lay’s on shelves, you’ll know that the brand has completed its promise.
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