Papa John's Drops $100 Million a Year to Oust Artificial Ingredients

Papa John's is hopping on the no-artificial-ingredients bandwagon, and it's ponying up some serious cash to do so. The pizza chain "is spending $100 million a year to eliminate artificial ingredients and other additives from its menu," according to Bloomberg.

Papa John's is looking to rid its menu of 14 different ingredients "including corn syrup, artificial colors and various preservatives." Per Bloomberg, "The ingredients are mostly in the chain’s dipping sauces," such as the so-called garlic "butter" sauce that many customers dip their pizza crusts in. (Papa John's already took MSG out of its ranch dressing last year and banished trans fats from the aforementioned garlic butter.)

Papa John's is just the latest restaurant to adopt the "natural is better" mantra that's trending so hard these days: Following the infamous yoga mat chemical debacle, Subway recently said it would ditch all artificial ingredients by 2015, and General Mills just announced it's doing away with artificial colors and flavorings as well.