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Target will stop selling cereals containing synthetic colors by the end of May. The Minneapolis-based discounter said Friday it had been phasing out synthetic colors in cereals for several years. Right now, 85% of its cereal sales already come from products made without synthetic dyes. Target said it has worked with national brands and its private brands to reformulate products as needed. Some cereals including Trix and Lucky Charms, which are made by General Mills will have updated formulations, Target said. Target said it will no longer carry brands that don’t reformulate, but it didn’t name the brands. General Mills announced last year that it planned to remove artificial dyes from all of its U.S. cereals by the summer of 2026. But WK Kellogg has said it plans to remove artificial dyes from its cereals by the end of 2027. Kellogg makes several cereals with artificial dyes that are now sold at Target, including Froot Loops, Apple Jacks and Squishmallows. Messages seeking comment were left Friday with General Mills and WK Kellogg. Target’s move acknowledges that American consumers and the U.S. government are paying closer attention to what goes into packaged foods. Last January, days before former President Joe Biden left office, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned Red 3, a petroleum-based dye. A few months later, the FDA under President Donald Trump urged food makers to phase out petroleum-based artificial colors by the end of 2026. The agency is reviewing some other petroleum-based dyes, including Red No. 40, Yellow No. 5 and 6 and Blue No. 1. Earlier this month, the FDA said it was relaxing rules that restrict when food companies can claim that their products have no artificial colors. The agency said food labels may claim to have no artificial colors when they are free of petroleum-based dyes even if they contain dyes derived from natural sources such as plants. Target isn’t the first big retailer to nix artificial dyes. Whole Foods has never allowed products with artificial colors since its founding in 1980. Trader Joe’s also doesn’t use synthetic colors in its products. Last year, Walmart said it planned to remove synthetic food dyes and 30 other ingredients, including some preservatives, artificial sweeteners and fat substitutes, from its store brands sold in the United States by January 2027. Target noted that its private label Good & Gather brand, which it introduced in 2019, is made without artificial flavors and sweeteners, synthetic colors or high fructose corn syrup. The brand has more than 2,500 products across dairy, produce, ready made pastas meat as well as baby and toddler food. We know consumers are increasingly prioritizing healthier lifestyles, and were moving quickly to evolve our offerings to meet their needs, said Cara Sylvester, Targets executive vice president and chief merchandising officer, in a statement. In recent months, other major food companies like Kraft Heinz, Nestle and Conagra Brands have pledged to eliminate petroleum-based synthetic dyes in coming years. Anne D’Innocenzio and Dee-Ann Durbin, AP business writer
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E-Commerce
One of generative AIs earliest applications remains among its most controversial: AI art. Its proponents celebrate the chance to create the images in their head, no time or traditional skills necessary. Its critics argue that AI images lack the soul of human-made art, steal the work of other artists without permission, and take opportunities away from working artists. AI-generated art often draws ridicule across social media, whether its being used for advertising, like Guccis recent series of AI-generated posts, or in the fine art world, like the immersive AI-generated works of Refik Anadol, which caught flak on X last week after being featured on 60 Minutes. (This is not an artist. He makes screensavers, one user wrote.) But there are internet forums where AI art enthusiasts can celebrate their passion free of ridiculeor at least know that there will be people in their corner to back them up. On the sister subreddits r/DefendingAIArt and r/AIWars, AI art lovers are encouraged to post freely about their controversial hobby (and talk trash right back at their critics). Though the two subreddits espouse similar philosophies on AI art, r/AIWars encourages debate between the tech’s supporters (known as “pro’s”), and its critics (known as “anti’s”). Meanwhile, r/DefendingAIArt flat-out bans debate. One of the latter subreddit’s pinned posts is a compendium of court cases where AI copyright claims were dismissed. Another is an infographic arguing that AI art isnt copying the work of other artists: Training an AI off the work of another artist, it says, is like looking at someones finished work and learning. You look at other peoples work all day, and learn from them for free, the post continues. Theres nothing wrong with that. you've probably seen this image before but try spreading it around as much as you can, it may not change anyone's mind but it'll at least have a chance of take down the most danming accusation in people's minds byu/GlitteringTone6425 inDefendingAIArt r/DefendingAIArt isnt a space for AI artists to share their work, but a place to speak Pro-AI thoughts freely, per the subs rules. The most upvoted posts of all time include gotcha moments of tricking anti-AI folks into thinking human-made art is AI-generated; callouts of the other sides apparent hypocrisy; and, naturally, memes about not caring where a piece of art came from. Every comment section is entirely free of argument. For that, Redditors are redirected to r/AIWars, where debate reigns supreme. On r/AIWars, posts are designed to be picked apart and argued into oblivion. There are examples of AI clearly plagiarizing copyrighted works, like generating an image of Sonic when asked for a blue hedgehog videogame character. And there are real-world legal and moral dilemmas, like the ethics of a vendor being banned from a convention for selling AI-generated artwork. Some posts simply argue to let everyone make art however they please, without deriding it as AI slop or, as the subreddits users satirically call traditional art, pencilslop. While comment sections on some social media platforms have been dominated by AIs critics, r/AIWars user base seems to be closer to a 50/50 split. That might make sense: Reddit has always been a place for niche fandoms and communities to connect, and in the age of AI, that includes the folks who love to fight about it.
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On Friday, Modernas mCombriaxa combined vaccine for both the flu and COVIDwas recommended for authorization by European regulators, which opens the door for the vaccines approval in the European Union. The European Medicines Agency, the regulator granting the recommendation (or adopting a positive opinion on recommending it for market authorization), said that the messenger RNA vaccine should help protect people aged 50 years and older against COVID-19 and seasonal influenza (flu), in a statement. The shot works like any other vaccine, effectively prepping the human body to defend itself against foreign infection, with the messenger RNA contained within giving blueprints to the body to make proteins to help stave off various seasonal flu viruses, and SARS-CoV-2. As the first combined COVID-19/influenza vaccine, mCombriax provides people with the option of having a single shot to protect against both illnesses, reads a statement from the Agency. Next, the European Commission would need to ratify the recommendation to open it up for widespread use. The CHMP’s positive opinion represents an important milestone for respiratory virus vaccination and for Moderna, with the introduction of the world’s first flu plus COVID combination vaccine, said Stéphane Bancel, Modernas CEO, in a statement. Combination vaccines have the potential to simplify vaccination and support improved health outcomes. We appreciate the EMA’s rigorous scientific review. The big question remaining: What about the United States? The answer is complicated and unclear, but part of it has to do with the Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) higher standards and scrutiny. Moderna applied for clearance in the U.S. back in 2024, supplying data showing that the vaccine was effective against both the flu and COVID viruses. But the FDA had asked for more supplemental data, according to reporting from BioPharma Dive, prompting Moderna to withdraw the submission, gather more data, and then resubmit it. Also, additional hurdles have entered the fray. The Trump administrationwhich includes several high-profile anti-vaccine advocates in various leadership positionsinitially opted not to review its application, though it changed its mind shortly thereafter after public and industry pressure. As it stands, thats where the bottleneck is: With the FDAs review process. Its unclear if or when the vaccine could win approval or be made available to the public in the United States.
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E-Commerce
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