Sales of Kraft’s Mac and Cheese Hit 80M After Ingredient Change, Customers ‘Didn’t Notice’ Company Says

— -- Food companies often face backlash when changing an iconic recipe, but Kraft is boasting that its customers "didn't notice" when it changed the ingredients to its popular macaroni and cheese.

Last April, Kraft announced it was removing artificial flavors, dyes and preservatives from its mac and cheese. The company said today it has sold 80 million boxes of the stuff since the new ingredients were introduced in December. This month, the company started a marketing campaign, including the promotion of the hashtag "#didntnotice"

The company's mac and cheese is now made with paprika, annatto and turmeric instead of artificial dyes yellow 5 and yellow 6. That change has been listed on the box for the past few months, the company said.

"It's changed. But it hasn't," according to Kraft's marketing campaign. The company has been giving away T-shirts and an over-sized macaroni-inspired body pillow to customers via social media.

However, Kraft's Facebook page includes comments from both happy and unhappy customers about the change.

"Noticed something had changed, we thought the butter or milk was off, apparently it was the mac and cheese itself that changed," one Facebook user wrote.