General Mills will begin offering Classic Trix, featuring synthetic colored cereal pieces.

MINNEAPOLIS — General Mills, Inc. in October will begin offering Classic Trix, which will contain synthetic colors, along with its current Trix, which contains only colors from natural sources. All Trix cereal has been void of synthetic colors since early in 2016.

“Our Trix fans have been calling us, e-mailing us and reaching out to us on social media asking if we would consider bringing back the original formulation of Trix cereal with its vibrant colors,” said Mike Siemienas, a General Mills spokesman, on Sept. 22. “As a result, we are launching ‘Classic Trix’ to fill these consumer requests.  We will continue to offer our current formulation of Trix with no artificial flavors and no colors from artificial sources, which has its own fan base, along with Classic Trix. So both products will be available for consumers. Consumers have differing food preferences, and we heard from many Trix fans that they missed the bright vibrant colors and the nostalgic taste of the classic Trix cereal.” 

Classic Trix will have six colors while the current Trix cereal will continue to have four colors, he said.

Trix cereal will continue to have four colors while Classic Trix will have six colors.

Minneapolis-based General Mills on June 22, 2015, reported its intention to remove artificial flavors and colors from artificial sources from all its cereals. More than 60% of the company’s cereals were without artificial flavors and colors from artificial sources on that date.

Erika B. Smith, Ph.D., a technology director for General Mills, spoke about Trix colors in a July 19, 2016, presentation at the Institute of Food Technologists’ annual meeting and food exposition in Chicago. She said Trix at that time contained the colors of yellow, orange, purple and red from natural sources, but General Mills had yet to find naturally sourced answers for blue and green.

She said Trix colors need to be bright and intensely colored, which means General Mills had to use a large amount of naturally sourced colors, increasing input costs. She also talked about the importance of colors in children’s cereal.