In the US, the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement led by health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is pushing food and drinks producers to shift from using artificial ingredients (preservatives, texturants, colors) to natural ones. This is likely beneficial for ingredients makers such as Givaudan, Kerry and Sensient who have a good natural offering. In the US, usage of artificial ingredients is still widespread in contrary to Europe where it’s less common due to stricter regulation. For instance, only recently the US Food & Drug Administration revoked authorization for the use of colorant erythrosine (Red No. 3) in food, which has been banned in EU since 1994. New data analysis by Barclays indicates 45% of packaged food and drinks contain artificial preservatives, 30% contain artificial flavors and 19% contains artificial colors, thus there is still ample room for natural ingredients to replace artificial ones.
Source: Barclays, July 2025.