Kellogg Pulls Immunity Claims from Cereal
November 5, 2009
Associated Press
Sarah Skidmore
Kellogg Co. says it will pull immunity claims from its Rice Krispies and Cocoa Krispies cereal boxes amid the public’s growing concern about swine flu.
Kellogg began adding extra antioxidants to its cereal last year, which it says help support the immune system. The company began advertising the change with large labels on cereal boxes that read in bold letters: “Now helps support your child’s immunity.”
But the food maker said Wednesday that given the public attention to swine flu, it has decided to phase out the message from its packages.
Kellogg, based in Battle Creek, Mich., said it has heard very little concern from consumers about the claim, but is responding to concerns in the media about the timing of this front-of-the-box claim and the swine flu outbreak.
Company spokeswoman Susanne Norwitz said swine flu was not a concern when the product was in development, and was intended to respond to consumer desire for improved nutrition.
Kellogg said it will take several months to phase out the packaging but it will continue to offer the increased levels of certain vitamins in the cereal.
Food makers have been facing increasing scrutiny for the labels that they put on their products, which have increased in number and scope in recent years.
General Mills was chided by the FDA for claiming Cheerios could lower cholesterol, saying only FDA-approved drugs are allowed to make such claims.
But the Food and Drug Administration said manufacturers are responsible for truth of claims such as Kellogg’s.
The FDA monitors the claims, but something like “supports immunity” is considered a structure or function claim — which describes the role of a nutrient or ingredient and doesn’t require the same scrutiny that other health claims might.
So a company can say “calcium builds strong bones” or “fiber maintains bowel regularity,” but it’s up to the manufacturer to ensure the accuracy and truthfulness of the claim, and they are not pre-approved by the FDA.
Kellogg shares gained 79 cents to $51.90 in afternoon trading.
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Least Healthy Breakfast Cereals
October 26, 2009
ABC News
By Dan Harris, Joel Siegel, Christine Brouwer and Suzanne Yeo
Six hundred and forty-two times a year. That is how often the average American preschooler sees an advertisement for cereal, according to a new study by Yale University.
So it puts things in perspective when the same study says that cereals with the biggest marketing push also happen to be among the least nutritious, when analyzed using a nutrient profiling system developed at Oxford University.
“If one looks at the rank order list of the worst nutrition cereals it’s stunning how the worst cereals are marketed so aggressively to children,” Kelly Brownell, a co-author of the study, said.
ABC News obtained an advance copy of the study, which will be released Monday when the Obesity Society holds its annual meeting in Washington. The study’s authors are posting their findings at CerealFacts.org.
The scathing report by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity says it provides proof for parents that children will eat unsweetened cereals if they are offered.
“So, there are ways to train kids to eat healthier food, it’s all about what they’re exposed to,” Brownell said.
Co-Author: Children Are ‘Blitzed by Marketing’
Advertisers have found new ways to expose children to their products. At sillyrabbit.com, Trix cereal goes far beyond its old television spot featuring a bouncing rabbit and the slogan, “Trix Are for Kids!” The site gives children entree to a colorful “Trix World” where they can play a bowling game at “Fruitalicious Lanes” or explore a “Rabbitropolis” that has a movie theater showing “Trix Toons.”
“You could use the word ‘assault’ to talk about the way the marketing is going on,” Brownell told ABC News. “Children are just blitzed by marketing for the least healthy food products, and there’s very little marketing for healthy ones to offset it.”
Brownell added, “If you add up all the exposure, on the Internet, billboards, television, what they see in stores, sales, what they’re going to see in … the social media like Facebook, it’s just enormous exposure.”
Three years ago, the industry announced with some fanfare that it would police itself by setting new standards for the way it markets food for kids.
Under the industry’s new standards many of the least nutritional cereals qualify as “better for you” foods, something Brownell called a “demonstrable failure.”
“To hear Froot Loops advertised as a ‘better for you’ food is to me just laughable,” said David Ludwig, director of the Optimal Weight for Life Program at Children’s Hospital in Boston.
“There’s something seriously wrong with a nutritional rating system if Froot Loops comes out looking good. This is really like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.”
Brownell says this only adds to the growing childhood obesity problem and calls today’s food environment “toxic” for children.
Industry Pushes Back Against Report
Elanie Kolish, of the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative who oversees the industry’s self-regulation initiative, disagrees with Brownell’s findings.
“Well, I don’t know how they came to their conclusion that they are the least nutritional products. Because children’s cereals that are advertised in our program are low in calories & and they provide an important source of these nutrients for kids’ diets,” Kolish said. Kolish’s statement is echoed by others in the industry.
“From a calorie and nutrient standpoint, cereal may be the best breakfast choice you could make. In fact, kids who eat cereal more frequently, including presweetened cereals, tend to weigh less than kids who eat cereal less frequently — and they are better nourished,” said General Mills spokeswoman Heidi Geller. General Mills produces Reese’s Puffs, Lucky Charms, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Trix and Cookie Crisp, among others.
Kellogg spokesman Kris Charles said the company developed a Global Nutrient Criteria; children’s cereals that did not meet the new standard were reformulated, or the company stopped marketing them to children under 12. Charles added that from 2006-09, Kellogg reduced its advertising to children under 12 by about 50 percent. Among Kellogg’s cereals for kids are Corn Pops and Froot Loops.
PepsiCo, which owns Quaker and Cap’n Crunch, said it is working to further improve the nutrition profile of that cereal.
“As an industry leader in responsible children’s marketing, PepsiCo is making ongoing efforts to voluntarily apply a rigorous transformation of its portfolio to meet consumer needs, including products like Cap’n Crunch cereal,” spokeswoman Candace Mueller told ABC News.
Top ten advertised cereals to children with poorest nutrition rating, according to the Cereal F.A.C.T.S report
1. Reese’s Puffs
2. Corn Pops
3. Lucky Charms
4. Cinnamon Toast Crunch (tied)
4. Cap’n Crunch (tied)
6. Trix (tied)
6. Froot Loops (tied)
6. Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles (tied)
9. Cocoa Puffs
10. Cookie Crisp
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FDA Takes Aim at Misleading Food Labels
October 21, 2009
Abc News
By Lisa Stark and Huma Khan
It’s not unusual for a box of cereal to bear labels touting numerous health benefits. Pick up a box of Cocoa Puffs, and General Mills says you’ve made a healthy choice. Kellogg’s Froot Loops also qualifies for a Smart Choices label.
But the ubiquitous label — a white sticker with a green check mark — is increasingly appearing on products that critics say are not so nutritionally smart.
Smart Choices is one of the many programs developed by grocery stores, scientists, health organizations and manufacturers themselves to steer health-conscious shoppers to supposedly nutritional products. But the government is stepping in and cracking down, saying the different systems are too confusing.
The Food and Drug Administration says it will analyze labels to make sure they are not misleading and is hoping to develop a nutritional gold standard for products that manufacturers want to label as healthy.
That may not be such a bad move, some experts say.
“When you have 40 percent sugar, can you imagine that? Half the box with grain and half of the box with sugar, that’s not such a smart choice,” Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said of Froot Loops.
When contacted by ABC News, Kellogg’s deferred to a statement by the Smart Choices Program defending the labeling.
The program “was developed during an open and lengthy collaborative process that included some of the most experienced and accomplished professionals in nutrition science,” Mike Hughes, chairman of the Smart Choices Program, said in the statement, adding that it “complies with all U.S. laws and regulations.”
Still, Jacobson’s Washington, D.C.-based consumer advocacy group wants the FDA to implement a national standard for labeling on the front of packages and even urged lawmakers on Capitol Hill to provide funding to research a system.
It’s not just cereals that mislead consumers, Jacobson said. He also pointed to Kraft’s Strawberry Bagelful, which he said is stuffed with cream cheese and strawberry puree sweetened with sugar and colored with red dye. It also has a Smart Choices label.
“You have these conflicting systems and some of them are flawed; that not so healthy foods get the symbol,” he said.
It is a system that concerns the FDA, too, and the agency is warning food companies that it will analyze labels to make sure they are not misdirecting consumers.
