Piling on Kellogg
Paul posted a rant about Kellogg’s Froot Loops and Apple Jacks last week, so I figured I’d pile on too… Can’t let him have all the fun, after all. According to a recent press release:
Kellogg Company Discontinues Immunity Statements On Rice Krispies Cereals
BATTLE CREEK, Mich., Nov. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Kellogg Company today announced its decision to discontinue the immunity statements on Kellogg’s Rice Krispies cereals.
Last year, Kellogg Company started the development of adding antioxidants to Rice Krispies cereals. This is one way the Company responded to parents indicating their desire for more positive nutrition in kids’ cereal.
While science shows that these antioxidants help support the immune system, given the public attention on H1N1, the Company decided to make this change. The communication will be on pack for the next few months as packaging flows through store shelves. We will, however, continue to provide the increased amounts of vitamins A, B, C and E (25% Daily Value) that the cereal offers.
We will continue to respond to the desire for improved nutrition, and we are committed to communicating the importance of nutrition to our consumers.
Why are they doing this now?
Maybe it’s because San Francisco City Attorney, Dennis Herrera, happens to have Kellogg in his gun sights. According to the SF Chronicle:
Herrera recently wrote to the president and CEO of Kellogg’s to demand substantiation for the claim on boxes of Cocoa Krispies that the cereal “now helps support your child’s immunity.” The cereal has begun showing up on San Francisco grocery store shelves – just when parents are worried about protecting their children from the swine flu, Herrera points out in his letter.
“I am concerned that the prominent use of the Immunity Claims to advertise a sugar-laden, chocolate cereal like Cocoa Krispies may mislead and deceive parents of young children,” he writes.
Herrera’s spokesman, Matt Dorsey, said California’s unfair competition law allows city attorneys to demand the facts behind companies’ advertising claims. Dorsey said there’s no threat of legal action yet, but that the city attorney will decide what path to take after he gets a response from Kellogg’s.
Looks like Kellogg made a “Smart Choice” (sorry, couldn’t resist!), and changed the claim to avoid a lawsuit – and the tons of bad PR that would have gone along with it.
(h/t Nutraingredients-USA.com; AttorneyatLaw.com)
November 14, 2009
Boneheads! Sigh.
November 14, 2009
LOL – well, this is perhaps the inevitable result of the increasingly “fuzzy” distinction between foods and supps.
In a sense, the homely boxed cereals we all know and (mostly) loathe, fit the definition of what we now call “functional foods.” Since specific health claims are made for other, newer FFs (like sterol-fortified margarine or probiotic/prebiotic yogurt), I’m not surprised to see cereal manufacturers jumping on the bandwagon.
It IS boneheaded, nonetheless, since this particular claim is pretty specious. I’m surprised that the FDA never called Kellogg on it.