Kellogg , the global cereal and convenience food producer based in Battle Creek, Michigan, USA, has announced it is going to stop putting claims on its US packets of Rice Krispies that say the cereal supports children’s immunity.
According to a statement released on Tuesday, Kellogg said that last year it started adding antioxidants to Rice Krispies cereals as one way to respond to “parents indicating their desire for more positive nutrition in kids’ cereal”.
The company said that while “science shows that these antioxidants help support the immune system”, given the current public attention on H1N1, they will remove the statement from the packaging but will continue to add vitamins A, B, C and E to the cereals.
It will be several months before consumers see the effect on the shelves as current stocks flow through the supply chain, they said.
According to the Associated Press (AP), Kellogg said they had heard little concern from consumers about the claim, which appears in bold letters on cereal boxes as “now helps support your child’s immunity”, but were responding to media concerns about the timing as it coincides with the swine flu pandemic.
The AP reports that food makers in the US are coming under increased scrutiny for the claims they are putting on their product packaging, which appear to have increased in number and scope recently.
For example, General Mills who produce Cheerios were recently told off by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for claiming that the cereal could lower cholesterol. According to the FDA, only FDA-approved drugs are allowed to make such claims.
Apparently there is a fine line between what is called a structure or function claim, like “supports immunity”, for which the responsibility for truthfulness lies with the manufacturer and making a claim that sounds like the product is acting like a drug, said the AP report. Another example of a function claim would be “calcium builds strong bones”.
Some consumers might be surprised to know that the same food brand often has different nutritional content and ingredients in different countries.
For example, there is a noticeable difference between the nutrition and ingredient information for the US version of Rice Krispies and the UK version. The following tables compare the nutrition information for vitamin and mineral content and the list of ingredients in the US and the UK versions of Rice Krispies, as given on Kellogg’s US and UK websites.
| US Rice Krispies’ Vitamins and Minerals | UK Rice Krispies’ Vitamins and Minerals |
| Vitamins A, C, D, E, Thiamin (B1), Riboflavin (B2), B6, B12, Niacin, Folic acid, Calcium, Iron, and Phosphorous. | Thiamin (B1), Riboflavin (B2), B6, B12, Niacin, Folic acid and Iron. |
| US Rice Krispies’ Ingredients | UK Rice Krispies’ Ingredients |
| Rice, Sugar, Salt, Malt Flavoring, High fructose corn syrup, Iron, Ascorbic acid (vitamin C), Alpha tocopherol acetate (vitamin E), Niacinamide [a form of vitamin B3], Vitamin A palmitate, Pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), Riboflavin (vitamin B2), Thiamin hydrochloride (vitamin B1), Folic acid, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12. | Rice, Sugar, Salt, Glucose-fructose syrup, Barley malt flavouring, Niacin, Iron, Vitamin B6, Riboflavin (B2), Thiamin (B1), Folic Acid, Vitamin B12. |
Sources: Kellogg, Associated Press.
Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD