May 05, 2015
Panera Bread is the latest company to remove artificial ingredients from its menu, the company announced Tuesday.
The organization published a list of artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners and preservatives that it has eliminated or intends to remove from its U.S. Panera Bread and St. Louis Bread Co. bakery-cafe food menus by the end of 2016.
“Last year we unveiled our Food Policy to hold ourselves accountable to long held values and set the future vision for our menu," founder and CEO Ron Shaich said in a statement. "The No No List is the latest step on our journey to clean food and a transparent menu."
More than 150 ingredients will be impacted by the ban, including substances like high fructose corn syrup and artificial trans fats. The artificial additives and other ingredients on the list will be removed across the company’s food menu, from bakery
to soups to salads and sandwiches.
“We are not scientists," Shaich said. "We are people who know and love food, and who believe that the journey to better food starts with simpler ingredients. And to turn that belief into meaningful action, we consulted third-party scientists and experts to compile a list of common artificial additives that we are going to do without. Simplifying our pantry is essential to our vision, but it is not an end point. We want to be an ally for wellness for the millions of guests we serve each week.”
Panera joins other companies that have recently made healthy menu changes.
Chipotle said last week the 46 ingredients used in its roughly 1,800 restaurants were now free of genetically modified organisms. Tyson Foods recently said it would eliminate human antibiotics from its poultry and begin working to get them out of other meats as well. McDonald's also announced that its U.S. restaurants will gradually stop buying chicken raised with antibiotics vital to fighting human infections.
