Yum Brands Inc.’s Taco Bell and Pizza Hut restaurant chains plan to remove artificial flavors and colors from most of their food, joining a host of other food companies that are opting for more natural ingredients in the face of changing consumer tastes.

Taco Bell is aiming to replace the ingredients with natural alternatives by year-end. The chain said it would also take out additives like added trans fats and hopes to remove additional artificial preservatives and additives by the end of 2017.

The changes affect more than 95% of Taco Bell’s core food items, the company said Tuesday, but it doesn’t apply to beverages or to co-branded items. A spokeswoman confirmed that the exempt items include its Doritos Locos Tacos, an item based on PepsiCo Inc.’s Doritos snack chips that is one of Taco Bell’s best-selling products.

Pizza Hut, which said it has already eliminated trans fats and monosodium glutamate from its food, plans to remove artificial colors and flavors from its nationally available pizzas by the end of July.

Yum Chief Executive Greg Creed, in an interview before he took over the top job in January, flagged the plans to strip out ingredients like preservatives, saying that “We have to clean up our menu labels. What people want are things on labels that they can pronounce.”