M&M's May Be Saying Goodbye to Two Iconic Colours

The candy world is about to get a little less colourful.

As part of a push to remove artificial food dyes, M&M's is launching a new version made with natural ingredients. But there's one small problem:

Blue and brown M&M's are proving surprisingly difficult to recreate.

As the iconic candy celebrates its 85th anniversary, parent company Mars is investing heavily in developing naturally coloured M&M's in response to growing consumer demand and pressure to move away from synthetic food colouring.

The good news? Mars has successfully figured out natural alternatives for red, orange, yellow and green.

The bad news? Blue has become the candy-coated equivalent of a science project gone wrong.

According to reports, the company has struggled to recreate the signature blue colour using natural ingredients. And because brown colouring relies heavily on blue pigments, both colours are being left out of the first naturally coloured version.

Mars reportedly tested alternatives including purple and pink M&M's, but executives felt they just didn't look right.

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For now, the naturally coloured M&M's will launch in August with a four-colour lineup and will initially be sold exclusively through Amazon.

Before fans panic, traditional M&M's aren't going anywhere. The classic version with artificial colours will remain on store shelves while Mars continues working on the problem.

The company's goal is to eventually recreate all six classic colours using natural ingredients by 2028. So if you've ever had a favourite M&M colour, now might be the time to appreciate it while you can.

Especially if that colour is blue.