Dum Dums Lollipops Stands by Bright Dyes, Despite RFK Jr.’s Push

The US government is pushing food companies to switch their bright synthetic dyes to natural colors — but the maker of Dum Dums lollipops and Sweethearts candy hearts is in no rush.

Kirk Vashaw, chief executive officer of Spangler Candy Company, said a key problem with changing ingredients is taste. Take beet juice: “That’s a nice red, but it tastes like beets,” he said.

A batch of candy during production of Dum Dum lollipops at the Spangler Candy factory in Bryan, Ohio, in 2015.

Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg

Then there’s carmine, which makes some consumers queasy because the reddish pigment comes from cochineal insects.

“People said, ‘I’d rather get cancer than eat the bug,” Vashaw said, referring to an instance ...