Panera Bread Goes 'Clean'

Jan. 13 is a big day for Panera Bread (PNRA) . As of Friday, the company's entire menu will be "clean." That means everything will be free of artificial ingredients and colors.

It took Panera about 10 years to make this happen. The company reviewed more than 450 ingredients across its supply chain. Panera reformulated 122 ingredients, resulting in changes to the majority of its recipes.

"We are trying to tell people that when they walk into Panera, they don't need to be a food scientist or carry a dictionary. They know the food they are going to get is clean. It's not marketing," Panera Bread Founder, Chairman and CEO Ron Shaich said. "One of the challenges out there is that people don't have healthy options," Shaich added.

This article was written by a staff member of TheStreet.