Kellogg’s, milk & sugar

Introduction

This is a post about a recent ruling in England. The Department for Health and Social care (England) gave notice back in January 2019 that it planned to introduce restrictions on the promotion of foods deemed unhealthy. This was intended to enable consumers to make healthier food choices and particularly to protect children from (junk) food adverts.

One of the target food categories was sugary breakfast cereals. Kellogg’s promote heavily to children with a number of cartoon characters – Tony the Tiger, Toucan Sam, Snap Crackle and Pop etc. The regulations were published in July 2021.

In April 2022, Kellogg’s took the government to court arguing that, wait for it, the bowl of cereal had been unfairly assessed, as the milk that is usually consumed with it had not been taken into account.

This note goes through the background to the regulations, the consultation, the regulations themselves, the foods targeted and then closes with the Kellogg’s court case – their arguments and the outcome.