Petition Against Kraft Foods' Use Of Artificial Dyes Gets Personal

Chicago's early spring winds weren't the only brisk chill in the air earlier this morning: Mother and blogger Vani Hari, aka "Food Babe," hand-delivered 270,000 petition signatures to Kraft's headquarters to ban the use of artificial dyes in their iconic macaroni and cheese products. Along with Hari, another proponent of the petition was Lisa Leake of 100 Days of Real Food, who was conferenced in for the meeting.

This wasn't the first encounter between Kraft and the two bloggers. The two have been garnering support in the fight to stop the use of yellow #5 and yellow #6 dyes in Kraft's products for about a month now. The dyes, which are not used in European varieties of the mac and cheese, are made of crude oils and are said to be linked to hyperactivity in children, migraines, and asthma.

Along with appearances on Good Morning America, The Dr. Oz Show, and USA Today, the two bloggers continue to urge the food conglomerate to remove the dyes from their child-targeted mac and cheese on their personal websites and on the online petition platform Change.org, and today marks their first face-to-face meeting with the company.  

Anne Dolce is the Cook editor at The Daily Meal. Follow her on Twitter @anniecdolce