Kellogg’s is taking legal action against the UK government over new rules that will prohibit some of its cereals from being prominently displayed in supermarkets due to their sugar content.
The new regulations, which come into effect in October, are designed to help tackle childhood obesity. They will see promotion of food and drink products that are high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) being restricted, leading to some Kellogg’s cereals being no longer prominently displayed on shelves.
Kellogg’s said it supports the government’s work to tackle obesity, as demonstrated by its past efforts to reduce sugar and salt in its cereals. However, it argues that the way the government is measuring the nutritional value of cereal – without milk or yogurt – is “wrong”.
Kellogg’s UK managing director, Chris Silcock, said: “We believe the formula being used by the government to measure the nutritional value of breakfast cereals is wrong and not implemented legally. It measures cereals dry when they are almost always eaten with milk.”
He continued: “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”.
“We’ve tried to have a reasonable conversation with the UK government over the past 12 months about making this change, but to no avail. So, 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.”
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024
