ST. LOUIS – Panera Bread Co. plans to banish more than 150 artificial ingredients including high fructose corn syrup, aspartame and artificial colors in its sandwiches, soups and other foods.
The restaurant chain, based in the St. Louis suburb of Sunset Hills, said Tuesday it’s the first national restaurant company to share its list of unacceptable ingredients. The company has set a goal of phasing out the ingredients by 2016.
Already, about 85 percent of the ingredients on Panera’s food menu are being tested or have rolled out nationally without these artificial additives, the company said.
Additionally, beginning Tuesday, Panera said its salad dressings at its 1,901 restaurants won’t contain artificial sweeteners, colors, flavors and preservatives.
“Last year we unveiled our Food Policy to hold ourselves accountable to long held values and set the future vision for our vision,” CEO Ron Schaich said in a statement. “The No No List is the latest step on our journey to clean food and a transparent menu.”
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