The news: Sam’s Club announced that nearly all of its Member’s Mark private label food and beverage products—excluding sports nutrition and OTC items—now meet its “Made Without” standards, meaning they are free of 40 ingredients, including certified synthetic colors, artificial flavors, aspartame, and high-fructose corn syrup.

The context: The Walmart-owned membership club launched the initiative in 2022, well before the Make America Healthy Again movement brought renewed attention to synthetic colors and other artificial ingredients. That early start helped Sam’s Club reach the milestone sooner than many peers, including Walmart, which plans to remove synthetic dyes and 30 additional ingredients from several private label brands by January 2027.

• Sam’s Club plans to extend the standards beyond food and beverage into categories such as cosmetics, health and wellness, and laundry, positioning the effort as a long-term differentiator—even as several retailers and brands including Save A Lot, Aldi, General Mills, and Kraft Heinz pursue more modest ingredient cleanups. That expansion is especially notable given that roughly half of female shoppers say ingredients are among the leading factors in their beauty and personal care purchase decisions, per LG Ad Solutions.
• “Quality at Sam’s Club means more than just a great price,” wrote Julie Barber, chief merchant, in a blog post. “It means providing ingredients that members want and eliminating the ingredients they do not want, and being a brand that members can trust to listen to and respond to their feedback.”

The implication: Sam’s Club’s “Made Without” standards should help position Member’s Mark as a high-quality, trust-based brand, not just a value alternative. Costco has long demonstrated the power of that model: Kirkland Signature’s consistent quality, transparency, and willingness to exceed national-brand standards have helped build durable trust and loyalty. In fact, many young parents initially join Costco to buy its high-quality, low-cost baby wipes, and remain members after discovering other items of value.

By raising ingredient standards across its portfolio—and extending them beyond food—Sam’s Club is following Costco’s Kirkland proven strategy of building trust through quality. Over time, that credibility can make membership stickier, boost its pricing power, and strengthen long-term loyalty.