Ever wondered how much sugar Kellogg’s puts into its cereals? Or how much of its flakes and popped rice are processed? In an attempt to gain more trust among consumers and show there’s nothing to hide, Kellogg’s in Australia has embarked upon a transparency push.

The cereal company has created an online platform called Open for Breakfast where consumers can ask any questions they like, and Kellogg’s says it will answer them honestly.

“Open for Breakfast is something that really enables us now to connect with consumers and connect directly with people that want to know more about our food,” Rebecca Boustead, Kellogg’s communication director told B&T.

“It gives people an opportunity to see inside those closed doors.”

The launch of the dedicated online platform was in response to the transparency push from brands – which Forbes says is critical in this day and age. Boustead said Kellogg’s didn’t take much convincing to launch this.

From their own research Boustead said they can already see the demand for transparency, which she believed, within the food sector and seeing what goes into FMCG brands, has been driven in part by the numerous cooking shows.

“We’ve seen this growth in people just wanting to know more about what’s in their food, where it comes from and who makes it,” she said.

The launch was also to put to use the 20,000 queries the brand receives every year. The team analysed these questions to find out trends, and it’s these inquries that have made up the bulk of the content on the site at the moment.

The campaign was unveiled on Monday. Boustead said they have so far received around 20 to 30 questions extra questions. Already the questions have been rather direct.

One consumer asked why Kellogg’s still uses palm oil. “Why do you use uncertified sustainable palm oil? You can see what is happening in Indonesia because of illegal palm oil. How many more animals have to die before you get it right?” asked Rhonda from regional NSW.

And another asked how the brand could reduce the sugar content in its cereals, but maintain the flavour.

Boustead said so far these have been the toughest questions.

“But they’re not tough in the sense of being hard to answer,” she stressed, “it’s more the directness of those questions.”

Overall, the campaign took four months to get up and running. Boustead wouldn’t reveal the exact amount it all cost, but said it was somewhere in the $100,000’s.