Panera Bread to Drop or Change 150 Ingredients on Its Menu

The Panera Bread Co. logo is seen on a cup of iced tea and a bag arranged for a photograph outside of a restaurant in Torrance, California, on Oct. 21, 2013. (PHOTO CREDIT: Patrick T. Fallon—Bloomberg/Getty Images)

Panera Bread is cleaning up its menu.

The fast-casual restaurant chain will drop or change 150 of the 460 ingredients on its menu to fit new standards the company set to provide a healthier dining experience to customers.

In an interview with Fortune, Panera CEO Ron Shaich said banning ingredients like saccharin, aspartame, synthetic benzyl peroxide, and maltodextrin is what customers want.

“Consumers are looking for alternatives that are less processed,” he said. The company published it’s so-called “No-No List” on Monday and hopes to have all “clean” ingredients by 2016.

The company is the latest to jump on the trend of shifting its menu to more natural ingredients. Chipotle announced recently it would no longer be using genetically modified ingredients, and both McDonalds and Tyson Foods recently banned the use of human antibiotics in their poultry.

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SOURCE: TIME, Fortune, Maya Rhodan