Kellogg says snap, crackle, stop, pulls immunity claims from Rice Krispies
Filed under: Company News, Healthcare, Media
Fears about the spread of swine flu have claimed an unusual victim: food packaging. Kellogg Co. (K) said it is pulling labels from its Rice Krispies and Cocoa Krispies cereals that make claims about boosting children's health.The cereal giant began adding antioxidants to the Krispies cereals last year, as a response to "parents indicating their desire for more positive nutrition in kids' cereal," the company said in statement. Labels on the cereals' boxes read "Now Helps Support Your Child's Immunity." The nutrients have been shown in studies to boost immune-system health.
Kellogg said boxes of cereal displaying the label will remain on store shelves and that it will take a few months for the change to take effect. The label changes won't affect the amount of vitamins A, B, C and E supplied by the cereals, it said. Packages and ad copy containing the immunity claims were still displayed at the Rice Krispies Web site Thursday morning ET.
Kellogg's decision would appear to be at odds with a study presented last summer that showed whole-grain snacks and cereals benefited the human body by providing it with antioxidants -- except Rice Krispies and Cocoa Krispies are made from refined grains, not whole grains. The University of Scranton study showed that whole-grain snacks, cereals and other foods contain higher levels of antioxidants than their refined grain counterparts; equivalent, in fact, to those of fruits and vegetables.
The research showed raisin bran and cinnamon-flavored cereals provided the highest level of antioxidants, although that was due mainly to the presence of fruit and spices.
Cheerios: A Breakfast Cereal ... or a Pharmaceutical?
Product manufacturers have come under increasing scrutiny in recent years for health claims made on product labels or in advertising.
Two years ago, Kellogg was banned from running TV ads in the United Kingdom after regulators found claims about higher protein and fiber in its Kellogg's Special K Sustain cereal to be dubious.
In May, the Food and Drug Administration warned General Mills Inc. (GIS) that the claims it made about Cheerios lowering cholesterol can legally only be made by drugs.
Kellogg's "supports immunity" claim on its Rice Krispies cereal differs from that of Cheerios, according to the FDA. Such structure or function claims describe the role of a nutrient or ingredient -- not the specific product. It is up to companies to ensure the accuracy and truthfulness of those claims, which aren't approved by the agency.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-05-2009 @ 9:44PM
John Q said...
Just when you thought you'd be the first to comment on a story: Spam spam spam spam, spam spam spam spam...it always beats you to the punch...
Reply
11-05-2009 @ 9:46PM
L R said...
This is not good*. There has always been a cloud of deception about those 3 weasel looking guys. What we need is a *Rice Krispies* Czar.
Reply
11-05-2009 @ 9:52PM
realcode04 said...
Notice the spam got real bad when AOL got a new CEO? Just when ya thought they we're gonna pull themselves out of the gutter. Its hopeless now. AOL's profits are down like 30% since, their subscriptions are down to just a few million from 30mill and on and on. AOL is a gonner.
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11-05-2009 @ 9:58PM
hotrodqd said...
cereal is great.....if you want your kids to eat better & healthier .....its your responsibilty to see to it ....not go around asking everyone else to do your job as a parent for you ......I mean c'mon .....add some fruit to your childs cereal instead of sugar !!!! duh !!! some people amaze me .....maybe you should'nt have kids if everybody else has to watch out for them ? bet you spend all your spare time in front of the computers-tv or messing with the phone ...while the media ...babysits & modes your childs mind as well ?
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11-05-2009 @ 10:56PM
Karen Anne said...
Enough already! The cereal itself is NOT being changed...they have just decided to change the label and why should they pull the boxes from the shelves when it is merely stating that the antioxidants are a boost to immune systems? And the study does NOT state that refined grains do not contain them, just that whole grains contain more. Give it a rest already!!!
Use your common sense and don't count on your breakfast cereal to supply your entire day's supply of ANYTHING! Give me strength! The inmates are in control of the asylum! Enter at your own risk!!!
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11-05-2009 @ 11:11PM
Bagman520 said...
Karen Anne
Yours was the most intelligent and well-written comment of the lot. And that includes mine. You stayed on point, you made your case clearly, and most of all you are indeed right. The product in the box isn't what is good for you, it's the ingredients that the product in the box is made of that is good for you. Keep up the good postings.
Bernie520
Seattle, WA
11-05-2009 @ 11:02PM
Bagman520 said...
To hotrodqd:
There is a special key on your keyboard. In fact, it is so special there are two of them. They are the "shift" keys, and they allow you to type a capital - or uppercase - letter. This is important because the first word in any sentence should have a capital - or uppercase - letter at its start.
And I don't quite understand what you mean in the following sentence:
bet you spend all your spare time in front of the computers-tv or messing with the phone ...while the media ...babysits & modes your childs mind as well ?
What does "modes your childs mind" mean?
Oh!! I think you meant to type "molds your child's mind" didn't you? Did you mean mold as in "to shape" or "make into something" like a "Jello mold"?? I think you typed it the way you pronounce it. "Jello mode" is how you say that...right??
And you missed the use of the apostrophe to indicate possessive form "child's mind" instead of the plural form of child which you also got wrong. The plural of child is actually "children"??
Go back to the fifth grade and get some help with simple grammar, spelling, and punctuation rules. We can't take your comments and opinions seriously if you write them as though you slept through every English course you have ever taken.
And I'm not picking on you. You are not alone. In fact, most of the comment posters here and most all other comment sites write at an even more ignorant level than you did.
Bernie520
Seattle, WA
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11-05-2009 @ 11:26PM
rose said...
Wow Bernie are you a perfectionist or what? Oh I know you are an English teacher aren't you. Who cares whether someone capitalizes the first letter in a sentence or not - its a posting for crying out loud.
You just had to blast the person for their misspellings also. You must have a very boring life if all you can do is correct this person.
Take your Prozac will ya?
11-05-2009 @ 11:56PM
Karen Anne said...
Why Bernie (blushing)...thank you! And ignore the put downs about your "critique", I feel the same way you do about semi-illiterate writing. It matters not if this is a mere "posting", there is no excuse for showing your ignorance! An occasional typo is one thing but boy do some of them set my teeth on edge! And NO, I am not an English teacher, just someone who is well aware that our speech and writings do make a profound impact on how we are perceived by others.
I once received a pay raise simply because the home office was actually impressed by my command of the correct language both in my written reports and on the telephone - simple things such as correct spelling, grammar, pronunciation and professionalism. It PAYS to study!
So, Bernie, keep good thoughts and know you are not alone! ;-p
11-06-2009 @ 5:52AM
Lj said...
Sorry buddy, you're just wrong in your punctuation and grammar criticism.
A 'mode' of something is just fine to use as it was, instead of the world 'mold' that you prefer, though maybe a bit more sophisticated.
As for the apostrophe, you did it wrong. Child's with the apostrophe as shown here means "child is", showing posesession would be written as childs' with the apostrophe after the s. Sorry.
11-05-2009 @ 11:28PM
Dina said...
I personally feel good when eat cherrios with skim milk and bananas in the morning. I have suffered from high cholesterol for a while. I don't have a way to measure while I am on this diet, but I will try to monitor with a cholesterol test kit to see. All what I can say for now is that I feel full, satisfied and alert after eating this kind of breakfast.
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11-06-2009 @ 1:43AM
jazmine said...
WHAT THE HELLL DOES THE SWINE FLU HAVE TO DO WITH CERAL??? SEEMS LIKE THERE RUNNING OUT OF IDEAS ON WHO TO BLAME FOR THE MYSTERIOUS SWINE FLU": THAT CAME OUT OF NOWHERE SO NOW THEY START OF THE ADD WITH WE THINK WE KNOW WHO TO BLAME FOR THE SWINE FLU HAHA YEA SURE SWINE FLU CAME FROM MY BOWL OF DAMN CHEERIOS! I DONT EVEN GET THIS ADD WHATS THE POINT? WHAT ARE THEY GETTING AT? SO IS THE CEREAL DEADLY OR WHAT IF ITS NOT WHAT THE HELL DO WE CARE ABOUT A LABEL BEING SWITCHED SAD THAT THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WE R COUNTING ON TO FINE CURES AND TREAT US WHEN WE ARE SICK. THERE WORRIED ABOUT LABLES WHEN HALF THE WORLD IS DYIN FROM THE SWINE FLU GETA CLUE AND FIND A DAMN CURE LEAVE THE CEREAL ALONE!!!
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11-06-2009 @ 6:24AM
Bopco said...
For years, I fed my children Rice Chrispies, but I always added Pepsi, instead of milk... The added Caffine made then hop around so much, the school doctors gave them Ritlan... I like to pop a few of them sometimes. It's a nice speedy head, but it's generally hard to get a scrip for them... Pour some pepsi or coke in your kids breakfast cerale. You can get yourself some good scripts and even if the kids get sick with this swine flu, they will hop around so much, no one will even notice
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11-06-2009 @ 1:56PM
Spucky said...
So you cant buy Rice Crispies anymore? Just cinnimon rice crispies? Wher are they? I looked all over for them today!
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