India, Oct. 3 -- keeping products like Gatorade and Cheetos vivid and colourful without the artificial dyes that US consumers are increasingly rejecting.

PepsiCo, which also makes Doritos, Cap'n Crunch cereal, Funyuns and Mountain Dew, announced in April that it would accelerate a planned shift to using natural colours in its foods and beverages. Around 40 per cent of its US products now contain synthetic dyes, according to the company.

But just as it took decades for artificial colours to seep into PepsiCo's products, removing them is likely to be a multi-year process. The company said it's still finding new ingredients, testing consumers' responses and waiting for the US Food and Drug Administration to approve natural alternatives. Pe...