‘No one is saying, ‘I want more cancer with my candy”: Why Peeps are a ‘food chemical success story’ despite RFK Jr’s campaign to destroy their dyes

For years every Easter and spring season, Americans stuff their baskets with Peeps, these little neon marshmallow chicks (and sometimes bunnies) coated in petroleum-based synthetic dyes that the FDA has not formally reviewed for safety since (depending on the color) the 1960s, ’70s, or ’80s. For Scott Faber, senior vice president at the Environmental Working Group, that makes the humble Peep something unexpected: a symbol of progress.

“Peeps are a food chemical success story,” Faber told Fortune while trying to stifle a chuckle...