The Consumers’ Association of Ireland  
Independently Representing Consumers since 1966

The Consumers' Association of Ireland is a wholly independent, non-profit,
non-government organisation registered with charitable status. CHY No. 8559.

PRESS RELEASE

EMBARGO TO 00.00 29th September 2008

Consumer Choice looks at children’s breakfast cereals and finds them to be unacceptably high in sugar.

Consumer Choice, published by the Consumers’ Association of Ireland, has tested nine popular children’s breakfast cereals for fat, sodium and sugar content.

All of these children’s breakfast cereals contained nutritionally unacceptable high sugar levels. Kellogg’s Frosties contains a massive 40% sugar, while Nestlé Golden Nuggets contains 38.7% sugar and Nestlé Nesquik has 36.9% sugar. Kellogg’s Rice Krispies contained the lowest amount of sugar but at 13% this is still considered high. A high level of sugar is anything over 12.5g of sugar per 100g.

As for the sodium content, all cereals except one had an acceptable level. Rice Krispies may seem like the healthy option for parents, but Consumer Choice was disappointed to discover that it contains borderline high levels of sodium (0.7%). Acceptable levels of sodium are between 0.12g and 0.6g of sodium per 100g. High levels of sodium are anything above this.

Fat wasn’t the main problem, with six of the nine cereals being low in fat. The total fat in the cereals ranged from 0.7% for Kellogg’s Frosties to a whopping 8.9% for Kellogg's Coco Pops Coco Rocks. Three cereals, Kellogg's Coco Pops Coco Rocks (8.9%), Nestlé Nesquik (3.8%) and Nestlé Cookie Crisp (3.2%) contained acceptable rather than low levels of fat. Low fat is less than 3g of fat per 100g. Acceptable levels of fat are between 3g and 20g of fat per 100g.

Jenny Harrow, researcher for Consumer Choice and author of the report, says “Eating a healthy breakfast is essential for all of us, but especially for children. But we have found that many of the cereals, which are specifically marketed to and at children, are simply not as healthy as they are promoted to be.”

The test was carried out as part of a global campaign to ban the marketing of unhealthy foods to children. Consumer organisations from 31 countries from Europe, North and South America, Asia and the Pacific were involved. The project was undertaken in support of a worldwide campaign calling for the World Health Organization to produce an international code on the marketing of food to children. Consumers International (CI) is asking, among other things, for a ban on radio or TV advertising promoting unhealthy food between 6am and 9pm, no marketing of unhealthy food using new media and no promotion of unhealthy food in schools.

Ms. Harrow adds “Manufacturers make claims about wholegrain goodness and the vitamins and minerals that are contained in their cereals. We do not dispute this. What we don’t agree with are the globally and locally high levels of sugar also contained in these cereals, and the manner in which these unhealthy foods are marketed to children.”

To request a copy of the article or for further information, please contact:
Jenny Harrow at cai@consumerassociation.ie or by phone on 01- 4978600

Editors Notes:-

• Terms low, acceptable and high are based on the European Regulation on health and nutritional claims (Reg. (CE) no. 1924/2006) and the scales used by the Food Standards Agency in Britain for the establishments of traffic light labelling on foods.
• Nutritional information is stated as per Consumer Choice test results, not as stated on the box. Consumer Choice found that all test results were within acceptable limits of nutrients stated on the box.
• Consumer Choice is published by the Consumers’ Association of Ireland, Consumer Choice’s team of dedicated researchers use their expertise to provide 8,000 subscribers with impartial reporting on household consumer goods, personal finance, automotive, health, safety and the environment as well as giving useful contacts and websites for each topic they report on.
• Consumer Choice does not carry any advertising, for that reason they can offer readers an unbiased view of all the products and services they review.
• Consumer Choice is published monthly by the Consumers’ Association of Ireland (CAI) limited, a wholly independent, non-government, non-profit making body
• Consumer Choice is available through a subscription of €24 per quarter direct from the Consumers’ Association of Ireland, - contact subscriptions at cai@consumerassociation.ie; www.thecai.ie or call 01-497 8811.
• Reports in Consumer Choice are based on market research, laboratory tests or user surveys, all of which are independently and scientifically conducted. The non-test reports are produced in main by the editorial staff. Some material is occasionally drawn from other foreign independent consumer magazines.