Global cereal brand, Kellogg’s has launched a legal campaign against the UK Government to overturn new restrictions on the advertisement of foods high in salt, sugar and fat.
These tough, new rules – which come into effect October 1 – restrict TV ads and physical displays in shops and supermarkets of unhealthy foods, as part of the government’s efforts to halve childhood obesity by 2030.
However, Kellogg’s – which owns brands such as Coco Pops and Froot Loops – has argued the nutritional ruling of its foods don’t take into account the addition of milk, which most people eat their cereal with. Duh.
UK managing director at Kellogg’s, Chris Silcock, said the government’s formula to determine the nutritional content of its cereals is “wrong and not implemented lawfully”.
“It measures cereals dry when they are almost always eaten with milk,” he told the Financial Times.
“All of this matters because, unless you take account of the nutritional elements added when cereal is eaten with milk, the full nutritional value of the meal is not measured.”
Silcock said Kellogg’s had tried to engage in “reasonable conversation” with government, but these talks had ultimately failed.
“We now find ourselves doing something which we really didn’t want to have to do which is to go to court to get the formula changed so that it reflects how people eat our food in real life,” he added.
According to UK Government statistics, 14.4 per cent of children aged 4 to 5 are obese, while 25.5 per cent of children aged 10 to 11 are also considered to be so.
“Breakfast cereals contribute seven per cent – a significant amount – to the average daily free sugar intakes of children,” said a spokesperson for the Department of Health an Social Care (DHSC).
“Restricting the promotion and advertising of less healthy foods is an important part of the cross-government strategy to halve childhood obesity by 2030, prevent harmful diseases and improve healthy life expectancy, so we can continue to level up health across the nation.”
This isn’t Kellogg’s first rodeo. In 2018, the cereal maker successfully overturned a ban on its Coco Pops TV ad campaign by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
“This is what happens when a large multinational food company uses its legal weight to fight rulings that influence their profits,” Caroline Cerny of the Obesity Health Alliance told The Guardian in 2018.
“Sadly, the price is the future health of our children.”
