Snack Makers Are Removing Fake Colors From Processed Foods
PepsiCo designed a new spicy potato chip without using its signature—and artificially formulated—dyes. Remaking the original Doritos is proving much harder.
The new Hot & Spicy chips are a spiritual successor to Flamin' Hot.
Photographer: Bloomberg Businessweek
If a potato chip isn’t bright red, will people know it’s spicy? This type of question kicked off a yearlong effort by PepsiCo Inc.’s marketing innovation, research and development, and consumer insights teams to invent a new kind of seasoning. The result will hit grocery store shelves in North America on March 3: Simply Ruffles Hot & Spicy. The chips are not flaming red. They’re orangish and speckled with spices, but placed next to the famous Ruffles Flamin’ Hots, these chips are basically beige.
Still, they are mouth scorchers, with a heat that builds as you chew and lingers after you swallow—unlike Flamin’ Hots, which punch you in the mouth as soon as they hit your tongue. But appearances matter as much as flavor does. Flamin’ Hots get their cartoonishly red color from much-maligned (but still legal) artificial dyes, Red No. 40 and Yellow No. 6. The newer chips use tomato powder and red chile pepper.