Sun editorial:

Cereal maker’s doubtful claim

Kellogg hasn’t backed its assertion that sugary product boosts immunity

Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009 | 2:05 a.m.

Breakfast cereal makers battle in a highly competitive market that includes seeing who can devise the most clever product name, the cutest mascot and the brightest box decorations. Cereals also have a distinct look so that a child can immediately distinguish Fruit Loops from Cap’n Crunch.

Boil it down, though, and many cereals marketed to children are basically the same. They’re boxes of sugar posing as nutritious foods.

Like other product manufacturers, cereal makers focus on positives, including the vitamins and fiber that come in every bowl.

But, as reported Monday by USA Today, the nation’s largest cereal maker is under fire from nutrition experts for stating on boxes of Cocoa Krispies that it “Now helps support your child’s immunity.” The word “immunity,” which also appears on Frosted Krispies, Jumbo Multi-Grain Krispies and Rice Krispies, is in bold letters as large as the product name together with the assertion that those cereals now contains 25 percent of the daily requirements of vitamins A, B, C and E.

Although the nation is experiencing a swine flu pandemic, Kellogg denied it is capitalizing on the outbreak because development of the new cereals began more than a year ago.

But the suggestion that Cocoa Krispies, for example, will help a child’s immunity is dubious. The cereal, with its high sugar content, certainly does not make children immune from crippling diabetes and unhealthy weight gain.

What does Kellogg’s immunity claim mean?

Getting an answer to that question is why we support San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera’s decision to send a letter to Kellogg and to the Food and Drug Administration asking the company to prove its claim. Kellogg’s response, that it developed the cereals to create more positive nutrition, is simply not good enough.

Herrera is right to be concerned that Kellogg’s immunity claim may “mislead and deceive” parents of young children.

The FDA should also take this matter seriously and pay closer attention to the claims made by other cereal makers, too.

Discussion: 4 comments so far…

By Patrick_R_Gibbons

11/3/09 at 8:36 a.m.

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Cereal would be much cheaper (and probably healthier) if politicians didn't try to put it in our gas tanks and slap a 150% tariff on sugar forcing confectioners to either leave the US (costing us jobs) or use expensive and unhealthy alternatives.
By Phargo

11/3/09 at 12:08 p.m.

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Amen to that Gibbons.
By boftx

11/3/09 at 3:21 p.m.

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How much, if anything, did Kellog contribute to Obama's campaign? Any real attention from the FDA will be in inverse propotion to that. Just like it would have been under any previous administration.
By Fab44Me

11/5/09 at 4:56 p.m.

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Are we serious here? Anything that's providing vitamins and minerals and fiber can make an immunity claim. If you're expecting your cereal and various other things to solely protect you from illness, surrender your driver's license, too....cuz you're obviously not bright enough to function.