Kellogg has put a new Guideline Daily Amounts counter on its cereals packs in a bid to appease criticism from the health lobby.
The counter is in the form of a bar chart located on the front of pack above the Kellogg’s logo. The chart shows how much a 30g bowl of the cereal, without milk, contributes to the government’s GDA for calories, fat, saturated fat, salt, total sugars, fibre, calcium and iron.
The chart, which is rolling out to all boxes of Kellogg’s cereals next week and possibly to its cereal bars later in the year, is accompanied by another bar chart and more information on the side of the pack, which explains how to use the GDA data. Legally required nutrition
information remains on the back of pack.
Chris Wermann, Kellogg’s European director of corporate communications, said: “People are aware of salt, sugar and fat, but they do not know what they should be doing about it and still do not know what it is they are eating.
“Consumers want to know how much they are supposed to have during the day and how much the product gives them.”
Wermann said the GDA counter, which snubs a traffic-light style labelling system, took six months to develop.
Kellogg had also tested other methods, such as pie charts, with consumers. He added that the cereals giant would conduct further research towards the end of the year to gauge consumer feedback.
Kellogg has also introduced a new ‘Eat healthy, keep active, get the balance right’ box on the back of its kids’ cereals to encourage children to eat a balanced diet and take exercise to burn off calories.
The box features an animated 10-year-old boy called Paul who ‘gets the balance right’ with his daily diet and exercise routine.
Amy Balchin, Sean McAllister