Macaroni and Cheese lovers will experience a new product from Kraft when the company distributes its new character pasta item next year CNN reported Friday.
The new product will have six more gram of whole grains, a decreased amount of sodium, and saturated fat. It will also have spices instead of artificial food dyes.
"Parents have told us that they would like fun Mac and Cheese varieties with the same great taste, but with improved nutrition," Kraft Food company spokeswoman Lynne Galia told CNN in an e-mail.
The change applies to macaroni shaped like spongebob squarepants, and Halloween and winter shapes. This also includes the products most recent shapes of Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Dreamworks "How to Train Your Dragon 2."
"As Kraft has today shown, it is clearly possible to make macaroni and cheese without these harmful chemicals," Michael Jacobson, executive director at the center for science in the public interest said in a statement on the organization's website. "As long as the (United States) Food and Drug Administration remains perched up in the bleachers and not on the playing field, action on the part of the consumers is the only thing that will get these companies' attention."
Food blogger Vani Hari of foodbabe.com obtained 348,000 signatures for the petition which she hand delivered to Kraft, but did not come away with a good feeling CNN reported.
"We recently discovered that several American products are using harmful additives that are not used -- and in some cases banned -- in other countries," Hari said in a petition CNN reported.
After hearing the news, Hari is happy Kraft is changing the ingredients in its products to healthier ones, but feels more needs to be done to protect children. "When I do have kids, I want to have a food system that I trust."
According to CNN, the company decided to take out the dyes from its european products and put paprika and beta-carotene for extra color rather than stick the following warning label on the food boxes.
"This product may have adverse effect on activity and attention in children."
Products in the United States currently have the dyes.
