By Anne Blythe

Cheerwine, a cherry-flavored soda brewed in Salisbury for slightly more than a century, has become widely known as the “nectar of North Carolina.”

On May 17, the Rowan County city held its annual festival to celebrate the beverage that L.D. Peeler, a general store owner, created in 1917. Peeler was interested in producing his own soft drink, according to a brief company history, and met a St. Louis salesman who sold him a wild cherry flavoring that he thought would mix well with others.

The concoction he made had a burgundy tinge, similar to a red wine, and a bubbly, cheery effervescence — hence the name that has secured a venerable spot in the North Carolina food and beverage scene.

The food coloring that gives Cheerwine its red tint has more recently created consternation among critics of synthetic food dyes. Now, eight Republicans in the state House of Representatives have filed proposed legislation that would prohibit certain food additives, including specific yellow, blue and green dyes, — along with the red dye that colors Salisbury’s celebrated homebrew.

Rep. Matthew Winslow, a Franklin County Republican who sponsored House Bill 440 spoke about the headwinds he and his co-sponsors have faced as they’ve tried to do away with food dyes in a state that holds the bright red soft drink in such esteem.

“Everybody comes to you in the secret underground, and they say, ‘Yes, we really like this but we’re concerned about our manufacturers,'” Winslow said during an April 25 episode of PBS North Carolina’s State Lines. “Sun Drop is made here. Cheerwine is made here. You know, they’re all using artificial colors.”

Food dyes in the crosshairs

Green bottles of Sun Drop sodas awith yellow and red labels re stacked up on a grocery store shelf
Sun Drop soft drinks on a grocery store shelf.

Across the country, there’s a movement to rid food products of certain additives and synthetic dyes used to enhance food colors. 

Sun Drop, another soft drink that’s gained popularity in North Carolina, is a bright yellowish-green citrus-flavored soda that can often be spotted on the desks of General Assembly members, especially the diet version. 

Former Gov. Roy Cooper also has an affinity for the drink that was bottled in Gastonia from 1953 to 2016. The soda is now produced by Keurig Dr Pepper, but it rose to prominence in this state, in part, through its long-standing partnership with Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car racing team.

Cooper elaborated on his Sun Drop habit, famously describing himself as “a diet soda sommelier” as he was being mic’ed up for an interview with Capitol press reporters in 2022.

Sun Drop lists yellow 5 as one of its ingredients, Cheerwine lists Red 40 as an ingredient in its nutrition information.

In January, during the waning days of Joe Biden’s presidency, the Food and Drug Administration revoked its authorization of the petroleum-based dye Red No. 3 after studies had shown a potential link to cancer in male lab rats.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the federal health and human services secretary in the Trump administration, has been a critic of chemical additives in the food supply for years. In April, he announced a sequence of actions with a goal of phasing out petroleum-based and synthetic dyes from the nation’s food supply. Public health advocates have pointed to research that links them to health risks such as cancers and neurobehavioral problems.

“Today, the FDA is asking food companies to substitute petrochemical dyes with natural ingredients for American children as they already do in Europe and Canada,” Marty Makary, a surgeon and commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said in a statement. “We have a new epidemic of childhood diabetes, obesity, depression, and ADHD. Given the growing concerns of doctors and parents about the potential role of petroleum-based food dyes, we should not be taking risks and do everything possible to safeguard the health of our children.”

In 2023, California became the first state to ban Red Dye No. 3, potassium bromate, propylparaben and brominated vegetable oil in food manufactured, delivered and sold in the state. In 2024, the state went a step further and banned Red Dye No. 40, Yellow Dye No. 5, Yellow Dye No. 6, Blue Dye No. 1, Blue Dye No. 2 and Green Dye No. 3 in school food. At the start of this year, California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order that calls for the further investigation of adverse effects of synthetic food dyes.

Although California got out to an early start, other states are considering laws to ban food dyes. Whether it’s because of an “aha moment” in the Make America Healthy Again — or MAHA — movement that Kennedy has advocated or a heightened interest among political conservatives in what’s in the country’s food supply, this legislation is being promoted in Republican strongholds too.

Evolving with the times?

As vendors, musicians, craftspeople and others crowded into historic downtown Salisbury this past weekend for the 108th anniversary of Cheerwine, some festival-goers had food dye on their mind while others weren’t giving it much thought.

Danaesha Jackson, a 20-year-old Salisbury resident, was enjoying one of the rare times she drinks Cheerwine.

“It’s pretty good,” she said, adding that she wasn’t too worried about the red coloring. “I don’t really drink it that much.”

A couple of blocks away, Joe Taylor, 59, and Nate Smith, 42, sat at a table displaying vintage Cheerwine bottles and other glass water bottles outside a small boutique focused on “northern trends” that Smith’s wife owns.

Two men wearing Cheerwine t-shirts that say I Need A Drink are sitting at a table with Cheerwine merchandise.
Joe Taylor, 59, and Nate Smith, 42, sell concessions at the Cheerwine festival in Salisbury.

They both support efforts to remove synthetic dyes from food and beverages.

Taylor, a Granite Quarry resident who says he manages his diabetes by drinking mostly water these days, says he wants to support a company that produces its goods in North Carolina and helps fuel the manufacturing economy.

But he wishes the company would at least offer a Cheerwine option that uses natural food coloring such as beet or even cherry juice.

“You need to evolve with the times,” Taylor said. “It will increase the support for the brand.”

A truck with the red Cheerwine logo on its sides is parked in Salisbury where the soda with the red dye is produced.
A Cheerwine truck is parked outside the Cheerwine festival in Salisbury.

‘Bright, beautiful and colorful‘

The bill introduced by Winslow in mid-March did not get the kinds of hearings it needed in House committees to be considered by the full House or to make the “crossover deadline” that keeps it alive for consideration by the other legislative chamber this session.

Donny Lambeth, a Winston-Salem Republican who co-sponsored the bill, told NC Health News last week that although that was an unwelcome obstacle, “nothing’s ever dead” in the General Assembly.

“There’s a lot of national interest in this issue,” Lambeth said. Sometimes, he added, proposals to make big changes need to percolate. 

“You kind of put a placeholder out there, and you get people to think about it,” Lambeth said.

Efforts to reach Winslow by phone and email to further discuss his reasons for the proposed legislation were unsuccessful. But he offered some insight during his appearance on State Lines in April.

“We’re a capitalist society and we have said we want food at a certain time, a certain way, and we want it to look a certain way,” Winslow told the panel. “We want it to be bright, beautiful and colorful, and the industry has provided exactly what the American people want.”

“Now the American people are saying, ‘We want healthy foods, we want to be able to go to the store and not have to use three apps to try to figure out can I have it or not have it,’ ” the lawmaker added.

Efforts to get comment from Cheerwine were unsuccessful.

“You know what? I will support them. I want to make sure they continue to serve here in North Carolina and provide Sun Drop and Cheerwine,” Winslow said on State Lines. “Everybody loves it. It’s a staple here in North Carolina. But we want to give them time to adjust to what people are asking for. “

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