The company announced nutritional improvements to its existing Coco Pops chocolate cereal range, involving a reduction in sugar, the addition of vitamin D and the launch of a new Coco Pops Choc 'N' Roll cereal which will pass the Food Standards Agency's tougher nutrient profile.
The firm said that by this time next year it would remove 15% of sugar in all its Coco Pops cereals, effectively reducing sugar content to one and a half teaspoons a serving and eliminating almost 750 tonnes of sugar from the nation's diet annually. The sugar will be replaced with starch from grains and glucose syrup, and no artificial sweeteners will be used. Calories will be maintained at approximately 116 a serving.
Greg Peterson, Kellogg's UK managing director, said: "We've listened to what mums have been saying and we're responding. They want a balance: lower sugar cereals which children will still eat. We've invested millions of pounds ... to make this happen."
Health and consumer groups welcomed the move, but said it was long overdue and demanded that changes be made to Kellogg's entire product range. Jackie Schneider, of the Children's Food Campaign, said: "We are staggered that Coco Pops currently contains 37% sugar per 100g. So this reformulation is long overdue, and it seems odd to us that the changes are being announced now, when the products won't appear on the shelves until mid-2011 at the earliest.
With thanks to www.guardian.co.uk.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/aug/04/kelloggs-cuts-sugar-coco-pops
