Kellogg UK launches new Better Starts Plan to make breakfasts healthier

01 Dec 2017 --- Kellogg UK has announced the launch of its Better Starts Plan which it says, by the end of 2018, will overhaul its breakfast cereals to help people in Britain “make healthier choices in the morning.” The company has promised to reduce sugar across three of its best-selling kids’ cereals.

Action on variety of cereals
As part of the plan, sugar in Kellogg’s Coco Pops cereal, one of the best-selling cereals in the UK, will come down by 40 percent (from 30g per 100g to 17g). This is following a reduction of 14 percent earlier this year, meaning that from 2017 to 2018, it will have halved the sugar in Coco Pops.

Sugar in Rice Krispies cereal will be reduced by 20 percent, now making it one of the lowest sugar cereals people can buy in the UK, and Rice Krispies Multi-Grain Shapes cereal will see a 30 per cent reduction in sugar per serving.

Kellogg notes that it has been able to do this after its food development team came up with “clever” ways to maximize flavor by using the simple ingredients of cocoa and grains to maintain taste, while reducing sugar, without using artificial sweeteners.

Kellogg further notes that it will stop making Ricicles cereal in January, 2018. It will also no longer run any children’s on-pack promotions on Kellogg’s Frosties, in recognition of the fact that this cereal now tends to be eaten by more adults than children in the UK.

Kellogg also promises to go further to tackle salt. Significant salt reductions have already been made, with Kellogg reducing salt in UK cereals by 58 per cent since 1999. From the start of 2018, it will reduce salt in Kellogg’s Rice Krispies cereal in the UK by a further 10 per cent and in Rice Krispies Multi-Grain Shapes cereal in the UK by 50 per cent.

Kellogg reports that it has listened to people and worked hard to meet rising demands for more choice at the breakfast table while providing tasty cereals all of us can enjoy. While Kellogg UK does not use artificial colors, over the next year the company says it will remove all artificial preservatives from its breakfast foods. It will also launch a new plant-based cereal range called W.K. Kellogg which includes no added sugar, low sugar, organic and vegan options.

“Kellogg has a long tradition of helping improve the nation’s diet – from pioneering high fiber foods in the early 1900’s to adding folic acid to our products in the 1970s; from launching a long-term salt reduction plan in the late 1990s, to adding vitamin D to all our kid’s cereals in 2000s,” says Oli Morton, Kellogg UK, Managing Director.

“We know we have a responsibility to continuously improve the nutrition of our food. We recognize, based on national dietary survey data, that people are eating too much sugar at breakfast and throughout the day and that people need more options, such as organic and vegan,” Morton continues. “That’s why today we are announcing more changes to our foods so that we can continue to support people in making better choices.”

“Our shoppers have told us that taste is still important to them so we’ve worked hard to ensure that our new recipes are just as delicious,” Morton adds. “We will continue to listen to people about how we can improve our food.”

Lobby groups react positively
“We are encouraged by Kellogg’s sugar reduction plans and the recent changes they've made and would now like to see this ambition rolled out across their whole portfolio of cereals,” notes Jenny Rosborough, Campaign Manager at lobby group Action on Sugar. “It is crucial that manufacturers take responsibility for the nutritional quality of cereals they're selling and how they market them, particularly to children. We'd like to see Kellogg’s implement front of pack colour coded labelling to support parents in choosing their lower sugar and salt cereals more easily.”

“We are pleased to see that, in addition to reducing sugar, Kellogg’s has committed to further salt reduction in some of its best-selling children’s’ cereals,” says Sarah Alderton, Assistant Nutritionist at Consensus Action on Salt & Health. “Whilst this is promising news and shows that salt reduction is still a priority for manufacturers, we hope that this will be extended across the entire Kellogg’s breakfast cereal range to include those eaten by adults as well as children.”