Foods

Dyes in breakfast cereal

Colored cereals are a small part of the aisle but a large part of the debate. The labels show how small, and which dyes they use.

Search labeled products by category and dye

Breakfast cereal: products whose label lists a tracked dye or additive

1,275 of 9,803

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USDA FoodData Central, Branded Foods, release of 2026-10-29. The label date is when the record was submitted: recipes change, so check the package in your hand.

Of the 9,803 breakfast cereal products counted, 13% list at least one tracked dye or additive. Those that do tend to use several at once: Red 40 appears on 11% of all cereal labels, Blue 1 on 10%, Yellow 6 on 10% and Yellow 5 on 9%, which is the signature of multicolored loops, puffs and marshmallow pieces. Plain flakes, oats and granola almost never list a certified color, and when they are colored at all, it is with caramel color, annatto or paprika, none of which the state laws cover. Cereal matters for the school rules because it is a breakfast staple: in states such as California, Virginia, Utah or Arizona, a cereal served at school breakfast must be free of the listed dyes from each state's start date. BHA appears on a few dozen cereal labels.

How common is this ingredient in a food category?

Breakfast cereal whose label lists Red 40

11%

Products listing it1,059
Products in the category9,803

USDA FoodData Central, Branded Foods; labels were submitted over several years and recipes change.

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Announcements are not labels

Company announcements about moving to colors from fruit, vegetables and spices are not tracked here, because only the label filed with USDA, or the package itself, shows whether a change has happened. The search above lets you filter by dye and see the month each label was filed. The natural colors page lists the color additives the FDA approved in 2025 to replace the certified ones.

What the labels list, substance by substance

9,803 products, 9,800 with an ingredient list; USDA FoodData Central, Branded Foods, release of October 29, 2026.
SubstanceProductsShare of the category
Red 401,05910.8%
Red 3340.3%
Yellow 58658.8%
Yellow 69519.7%
Blue 11,02110.4%
Blue 21051.1%
Green 310.0%
Titanium dioxide530.5%
BHA530.5%

Questions people ask

How many breakfast cereal products were counted, and how recent are their labels?

9,803 products, one per barcode, from the USDA FoodData Central Branded Foods release of October 29, 2026. 1,275 of them list at least one of the 14 substances tracked here. Most labels in the data set were filed in 2021 to 2023, so recipes may have changed since.

Which dye is listed most often in breakfast cereal?

Red 40, on 1,059 labels or 10.8% of the category, followed by Blue 1 (1,021) and Yellow 6 (951). A product often lists several at once, so the counts overlap. The table on this page gives every tracked substance. Counts come from the labels, not from tests of the products themselves.

Are breakfast cereal with these dyes legal to sell?

Yes, in stores, except for substances whose federal date has passed, such as BVO, or will pass, such as Red 3 on January 15, 2027, and from January 1, 2027 for the four substances of California's Food Safety Act in that state. School rules in several states limit what schools serve or sell, not what stores sell.

Check next

Foods with Red 40

Search US products whose label lists Red 40 or another tracked dye, by category, from USDA FoodData Central, with each label's date.

Ingredient list checker

Paste an ingredient list: every tracked dye or additive found, by FD&C name, lake, E or INS number, with its status in your state.

Dye laws by state

Pick a state and a dye or additive: the FDA rule, every state law that names it, and the date each one starts.

Natural food colors

The colors exempt from certification that replace synthetic dyes, the new ones the FDA approved since 2025, and two still on hold.

Laws and official pages behind this page

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Independent publisher of a state-by-state tracker of food dye and additive laws in the United States, with an ingredient-list checker built on USDA FoodData Central

Laws and FDA orders checked on · Editorial policy · Contact

Food dye and additive rules 2026, read in each state law and in the Federal Register, last checked on