Fast food restaurants are racing to embrace more natural ingredients on their menus.

Taco Bell and Pizza Hut are the latest chains to announce they'll be eliminating artificial ingredients as early as July in an attempt to appeal to customers' changing tastes for more natural products.

The decision follows similar announcements by McDonald's, Subway and Panera to get rid of artificial ingredients and Chipotle's announcement last month that it would stop using genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Within the next two months, Taco Bell will start using real black pepper instead of what it calls "black pepper flavor" and get rid of the artificial dyes used in many of its dips, chips and cheeses. Pizza Hut will quit using artificial colors and flavors by the end of this year and plans to phase out some of its artificial preservatives by 2017.

(READ more from the Associated Press)

Photo by JeepersMedia, CC

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