Recently, there was a post about Kraft Macaroni and Cheese replacing dyes with the ancient spice turmeric, known for its anti-inflammatory properties and potential aid as a cancer-fighting agent.
According to the New York Times, it was a “new formula that removed artificial preservatives and swapped out artificial dyes for a combination of paprika, annatto and turmeric… when the reformulated version hit shelves in December, only customers paying careful attention to the ingredients listed on the side of the box would have known. Even the orange-ish color of the mac and cheese remained the same… ‘We’ve sold well over 50 million boxes with essentially no one noticing,’ said Greg Guidotti, vice president for meal solutions at Kraft Heinz.”

Why would someone have to read the label carefully to notice the change? Some surmise that it’s the reformulated Coca-Cola conundrum. When the company released its new formula with great fanfare years ago, the public pointed thumbs down –leading ultimately to restoring the original flavor amid great embarrassment.

Presumably, Kraft Heinz wanted to avoid a potential repeat – so the company went stealth in its reformulation until public acceptance was assured. Will this be a growing trend, particularly with ingredients used in iconic foods? Quite possibly.

Only now is Kraft Heinz trumpeting the change. According to greenmedinfo.com, “Kraft foods, for instance, recently launched an advertising campaign patting itself on the back for silently replacing the synthetic dyes in their mac & cheese (yellow 5 & 6) with curcumin, the powerful golden hued polyphenol that comes from the ancient Indian healing spice turmeric.”

The Kraft mac and cheese website explains the rationale:  “When we took the artificial flavors, preservatives and dyes out of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, we wanted to make sure it still tasted like the Kraft Mac & Cheese you know you love. So three months ago, we quietly started selling the new recipe in our old boxes to see if you’d notice. And your silence spoke volumes…On March 7th, 2016, the largest blind taste test in history came to a close as we began proudly advertising the change to Kraft Mac & Cheese.”

The previously understated label, quietly listing the ingredients, now proclaims the lack of artificial preservatives, flavors and dyes.

Will corporate giants like Kraft Heinz take bold next steps – educating the world about turmeric’s potential as a powerful medical agent? Will they use their labels to encourage the marketplace to learn about this ancient spice and potential health value beyond mac and cheese flavoring and color? Will Kraft encourage its website visitors to comment about turmeric’s medicinal properties?

This could be a door-opener for large, mainstream product manufacturers to invest in labels and other branding that promote legitimate health values – versus the sometimes dubious and glib claims that have plagued a number of products to date.

By letting the public, influencers, media, et al make the connections organically instead of companies tooting their own horns, manufacturing giants gain credibility inherent with marketplace “third party endorsement,” which typically carries much more weight than self-aggrandizing advertising campaigns. Plus, while the FDA can ban “unsubstantiated” advertising health claims, it can’t stop the social media machine from making the connection.

In the case of turmeric, there appears to be strong empirical evidence of medicinal benefit. Notes greenmedinfo.com in an article connecting mac & cheese and medicine, “A powerful spice extract now replaces toxic synthetic dyes in Kraft’s mac & cheese, but the FDA has yet to approve turmeric for a single medical use despite thousands of studies support[ing] its value…But why limit its use to mac & cheese? What about its medical value in over hundreds of diseases, as established by an extensive body of published research that has been accumulating for decades?…nothing within the modern-day pharmaceutical armamentarium comes even remotely close to turmeric’s 6,000 year track record of safe use in Ayurvedic medicine…Despite its vast potential for alleviating human suffering, turmeric will likely never receive the FDA stamp of approval, due to its lack of exclusivity, patentability and therefore profitability.”

Think about this type of dialog gathering social media steam. Eventually, it could persuade the FDA to approve proven natural substances for certain therapies. Organic manufacturers have already jumped on the bandwagon to some extent. For example, pastemagazine.com headlines an article about the 2016 Natural Foods Expo with the words “Turmeric Takeover, Hot Honey and Matcha Mania.”

It would be revolutionary and refreshing to see mainstream product manufacturers using their labeling/branding efforts to authentically rev up knowledge and support of healthful substances, then letting the educated marketplace reward them with enhanced sales.



Mark Lusky is a marketing communications professional who has worked with Lightning Labels, an all-digital custom label printer in Denver, CO, USA, since 2008. Find Lightning Labels on Facebook for special offers and label printing news.