My conspiracy theory is that we have too much petroleum byproducts because the US is an oil nation. These byproducts can escape or be thrown, OR we can leverage them as a hydrocarbon source for making artificial totally safe (trust me bro) dyes for food that definitely aren’t addictive and cancer causing so we can make a quick buck selling low cost bright nutrient meal with fancy shapes to kids.

I’d have laughed in the face of anyone saying that to me a decade ago, the more I learn the less crazy it seems though.