I actually think that's a bit of the Japanese viewpoint showing through (which Himaruya usually does so well at hiding, haha xD;; ). I assume that Japanese snacks and confections are mostly natural-coloured, and when they are dyed it's in a kind of mute, subtle manner just to make things more interesting. When Himaruya (and other Japanese people really) sees American snacks which are bluer than the blue boxes on this LJ page, they don't look like food to him! xD;; He pokes fun at this endlessly with photographic evidence every time he is in America. It's all over his journal.