Hundreds of people gathered outside WK Kellogg's headquarters in Michigan on Tuesday, demanding the company keep its promise to remove artificial colors from its breakfast cereals sold in the United States

Nearly a decade ago, Kellogg's, the maker of Froot Loops and Apple Jacks, committed to removing such additives from its products by 2018.

While Kellogg's has also done this in other countries, including Canada, where Froot Loops are now made with natural fruit juice concentrates, the cereal sold in the United States still contains both food coloring and a chemical preservative.

In the US, Froot Loops ingredients include Red Dye No. 40, Yellow Dye No. 5, Yellow Dye No. 6 and Blue Dye No. 1.

Food activist Vani Hari, also known as “Food Babe” on social media, addressed the crowd of protesters at the grain giant's offices in Battle Creek on Tuesday.

“I am here for mothers, for all mothers who have difficulty feeding their children healthy food without added chemicals,” she said.

In response to the protests, Kellogg's emphasized that its products were safe for consumption and said its ingredients met federal standards set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The agency has said that most children will not experience harmful effects from color additives, but critics argue that the FDA standards were developed without an assessment of possible neurological effects.

The protests come in the wake of a new California law called the California School Food Safety Act, which bans six potentially harmful dyes in foods served in California public schools. The ban applies to all dyes in Froot Loops, as well as blue dye #2 and green dye #3.

The bill was passed by state lawmakers in August and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September.

Studies suggest that consumption of these dyes and dyes, banned under the new California School Food Safety Act, may be linked to hyperactivity and other neurobehavioral problems in some children, the California Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment said in a report from 2021.

While thousands of chemicals are still approved for use in our nation's commercial food system, many of those reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration have not been reevaluated in decades. Red 40, for example, was last tested for health risks in 1971.

Reports from the American Academy of Pediatrics agree with this push to reevaluate the safety of artificial food colors.

California made history back in October 2023 when Newsom signed AB 418, a first-of-its-kind law banning four harmful chemicals from candy, cereal, salad dressings and other processed foods in the state starting in 2027.

This bill will end the use of brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, and red dye No. 3 in foods sold statewide.

Kellogg's Faces Protest Food Coloring in Popular Breakfast Cereals originally appeared on goodmorningamerica.com