What about the others?
10/1/2025 Walmart Press Release:
“BENTONVILLE, Ark., Oct. 1, 2025 — Walmart U.S. today announced it is moving to eliminate synthetic dyes and the use of an additional 30 ingredients, including certain preservatives, artificial sweeteners and fat substitutes from its private brand food products. This action is a significant step forward in its ongoing mission to provide customers with affordable, high-quality private brand products.
The change, which includes all Walmart U.S. food private brands such as Great Value, Marketside, Freshness Guaranteed and bettergoods, is in line with evolving customer preferences and in support of a more transparent food system.”
The list is long and very specific:
Dyes:
Walmart is eliminating 11 synthetic dyes from private brand foods in the U.S.:
• FD&C Blue 1
• FD&C Blue 2
• FD&C Green 3
• FD&C Red 3
• FD&C Red 4
• FD&C Red 40
• FD&C Yellow 5
• FD&C Yellow 6
• FD&C Citrus Red
• FD&C Orange B
• Canthaxanthin
And other ingredients (holy crap, these were in our food?):
In addition to dyes, Walmart U.S. private brand foods will no longer include 30 other ingredients, such as certain preservatives, artificial sweeteners and fat substitutes.
Ingredients being removed include:
• Titanium Dioxide
• Azodicarbonamide
• Dicotyl Sodium Sulfosuccinate (DSS)
• Sucrose Polyester
• Toluene
• Anisole
• Lye
• Morpholine
• Propylene oxide
• Sodium Stearyl Fumarate
• Stearyl tartrate
• Ficin
• Synthetic trans fatty acid
• Butylparaben
• Lactylated Esters of Mon & Diglycerides (OLEON)
• Methylparaben
• Propylparaben
• Calcium Bromate
• Potassium Bromate
• Bromated flour
• Neotame
• Advantame
• Phthalates
• Potassium Bisulfite
• Potassium Nitrate
• Potassium Nitrite
• Simplesse
• Sodium Ferrocyanide (Yellow Prussiate of Soda)
• Sucroglycerides
• Talc
Nice that they are taking these out, and we don’t know how much of them was in their products in the first place, but OMG they are scary to know that they may have been widely consumed.
For example:
Sucrose Polyester, brand name Olestra, is a fat substitute made from sucrose and vegetable oil. Neither of which are good for you, and both of which can cause adverse effects, if not long term ones. So if I wanted to make a cookie that tasted good and had a lower calorie or fat count, I would use this shit.
Synthetic Trans Fatty Acid: “unhealthy fats created in an industrial process called hydrogenation, which adds hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils to make them solid and extend their shelf life. This process creates partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs), which are found in many processed and fried foods and have been linked to serious health problems, such as increased "bad" cholesterol (LDL), decreased "good" cholesterol (HDL), and higher risks of heart disease, stroke, and Type 2 diabetes.”
Yummy. It’s not just Walmart. Trans Fatty Acids are commonly found in many mainstay American food products:
Bottom line is Walmart, before its competitors, is announcing to the US retail world (Europe is a different kettle of ingredients, as is Asia) that it cares about its customers’ health. That creates a positive association in customers’ minds and, even if Target, Kroger, ShopRite, etc. announces a similar change in coming days/months or ever, it looks like a copycat and its motives, as well as its actions, will be cast into doubt and the zero-sum win will go to Walmart.
Whatever their real motive, Walmart can become the MAHA hero.
But nothing you don’t grow yourself is pure and clean.
So Walmart made its announcement about its private brands. Which means that if you are intent on killing yourself, go ahead and buy all the Froot Loops you want to. Wouldn’t you think that if Walmart management decided that these certain ingredients are bad for their customers’ health, as they said in their press release, that they would ban items containing these substances from their shelves? They won’t. And we know the reason:
Money/greed. Their business is too big to send their Froot Loops customers, as stupid as they may be, to Target or Shop Rite or Costco.
But before we blame Walmart, we should blame a. the people like Procter & Gamble that put this shit in the food supply in the first place b. The FDA that allowed it and c. most of all, the stupid lazy customers whose only standards were fast, filling and cheap.
Unfortunately, the truth is that shit-free foods like the ones that Walmart will stock in its private brands by 2027 were available in the US Marketplace, some since 2015.
For example, Aldi. “Aldi US removed certified synthetic colors from all of its exclusive food products in 2015, so Aldi brands have been dye-free for nearly a decade. This decision was made in response to customer feedback, who expressed interest in more natural, plant-based colorings.”
Why? Because they care so much about US consumers’ health? I doubt it. I believe the main reason is that their home base, and most of their stores, are in Europe, which is a much healthier place to live, and which has not allowed this crap in its food for a long time now. Nonetheless, Aldi woke up to MAHA and put this ad on Facebook:
Trader Joe’s, which has become a cult favorite in the US, and which has also been owned by a European company since 1979, has a clean bill of health on all its own-branded products (which make up most of its inventory). The company’s FAQ page spells it out.
Whole Foods also makes a similar commitment but takes it a step further. Not only do its private brands avoid the dyes and chemicals that Walmart is banning now, but it claims not to sell other brands’ products if they contain those substances: “These requirements are applicable for Whole Foods' own affordable 365 label and all other products it stocks -- so you can shop with peace of mind, without having to intensely scour ingredients labels.”
Ever notice that almost all grocery stores, whether a mega-Walmart or Lidl, are arranged with the fresh stuff around the outside, and everything else in the middle? So all you need to do to avoid the crap is shop the outside and buy fresh. Or grow it yourself.
Bottom line is that, if you want to avoid the nasty chemicals that Walmart is now banning in its private label, you don’t have to shop there. Just buy from a store or chain, like Aldi or Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods, that has and has had that standard for some time now or for as long as they have existed--or just buy fresh or grow your own.
Don’t care? As was said in Brooklyn where I grew up, it’s your ass (and maybe your heart and liver and etc.)
Kudos to Walmart for jumping in front of the customer’s face with their announcement and stepping on the necks of those retailers who believe if they give the shit away at a loss or for free, they will get the customer’s dollars, and that makes their shareholders happy. Let’s see where that customer shops in the next five years.
And Kudos to RFK Jr. for upturning the apple cart and making US consumers aware of the fact that they have been slowly poisoned and debilitated by greedy conglomerates, shareholders and the lazy lifestyle they gave in to. Every detail that HHS gives us may not be ironed out, but the intention is there and the message is effective if we get the overall point—as in the 1976 film, Network, and we are "mad as hell and won’t take it (buy it) anymore." And those of us who listen, and act accordingly, will be the better for it.
Those of us who don’t will feed the medical profession. And the drug suppliers.
Viva la pura vida! Or, better yet, la pura vida nos hara puros (the pure life will make us pure). This is and has always been Lotus & Michael’s lifestyle, which is present in everything we do or make.
Have to end this article now. I need to water my vegetable garden.
i. Corporate.walmart.com, “https://corporate.walmart.com/news/2025/10/01/walmart-u-s-moves-to-eliminate-synthetic-dyes-across-all-private-brand-food-products”
ii. Ibid.
iii. https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+synthetic+trans+fatty+acid&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS1032US1032&oq=what+is+synthetic+trans+fatty+acid&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCTIxOTg0ajBqN6gCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#vhid=8xHUnc2APorVhM&vssid=l
iv. Sushruta, https://www.diabetesendocrinology.in/diabetes/why-should-i-bother-about-trans-fat/
v. Yahoo! Life, https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/grocery-store-chain-thats-committed-144000754.html
