Dr Pepper Just Removed Red 40 From a Popular Flavor

It’s (almost) official: Dr Pepper Cherry is now Red 40-free. While classic Dr Pepper uses “caramel color” to attain that beautiful hue, it turns out Dr Pepper Cherry had a touch of our most controversial food coloring as well. Per a ground-level report we’ll cover next, Dr Pepper has removed Red 40 from our fourth-favorite Dr Pepper variant.

Where did this news come from?

The first report of this new recipe came earlier this month from food blogger and certified fork enthusiast Markie Devo. Per the pre- and post-dye removal ingredient lists seen in his post, the Red 40 in Dr Pepper Cherry has been replaced with… nothing! At this time, Dr Pepper has not commented on the removal, and I don’t expect they will. Minor ingredient changes like this don’t usually get publicized; as usual, the reason why boils down to capitalism. This change was likely enacted in advance of the threatened nationwide Red 40 ban, which may or may not go into effect at the end of next year. From a boardroom perspective, consumers fear change; it’s better for business to stay quiet.

As a personal believer in the “Coca-Cola produced New Coke to cover up a less-significant change to the classic formula” conspiracy theory, I totally believe that Dr Pepper was hoping this recipe change wouldn’t be noticed—and why would they? The health-conscious anti-red 40 crowd isn’t going to switch en masse to drinking this sugary soda, while the Dr Pepper Cherry addicts of the world (you know who you are) might be scared into a boycott if they hear about a recipe change… even if that recipe change has nothing to do with the flavor.

Is Red 40 bad for you?

Folks, don’t ask me. I’m not a doctor; if I were, I probably wouldn’t eat ice cream for a living. The “Red 40 Scare” these days is focused on the dangers of children consuming the dye. Per the FDA (in a report that came out before the current Secretary of Health & Human Services was sworn in), “most children have no adverse effects when consuming foods containing color additives[.]” Funny story, I actually was one of the lucky kids who had an adverse reaction to red 40! Long before I became a sad bald adult, red 40 seemed to irritate my skin in a big bad way. Luckily, I grew out of that before I became a professional eater here at Sporked.