#Healthwire: Surprise: You’d never guess what well-known company just decided to dump artificial coloring from its products

 If you enjoy coffee and ice cream but loathe artificial colorings, it seems that you may be in for a treat sometime soon. Dunkin Brands Group Inc., which owns the popular Dunkin Donuts coffee chain and Baskin-Robbins ice cream chain, has announced that it plans on removing artificial colorants from the majority of its products by 2018.

Organic Authority reports that in a recent press release, Dunkin’ Brands Chairman and CEO Nigel Travis said, “This is a significant undertaking on the part of our product development teams and suppliers.”

Travis went on to state, “However, we are committed to meet the evolving needs of our customers, including their preference for more nutritional transparency and simpler ingredients, while maintaining the great taste and the fun, vibrant colors expected from Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins products.”

The research and development teams for Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins are currently re-working a host of products to meet this new goal. At Dunkin’ Donuts, donut icings, toppings, frozen beverages, baked goods, breakfast sandwiches and coffee flavorings are all being revamped to become free of artificial colorants. And at Baskin-Robbins, the plan is to remove synthetic dyes from ice creams, syrups, sauces, sprinkles and beverages.

However, neither brand will be removing a selection of supplier-branded ingredients that are produced by other companies and used as ingredients in their foods, such as topping or mix-ins for ice creams. Baskin-Robbins has also noted it will take them longer to replace the artificial colorants used in the decorative elements of their famed ice cream cakes.

A number of fast-food and chain restaurants have launched initiatives to improve the quality of their ingredients in the last few years. Subway, Panera, and Taco Bell have also announced their plans to remove artificial colorings from their products, along with other questionable ingredients.

In 2015, General Mills announced it would be removing synthetic dyes and artificial flavors from its cereals. That same year, Kraft finally caved in and made a similar announcement, after refusing to remove artificial colors from its iconic macaroni and cheese product for two whole years.