Going against the grain

Cleanliness may well be next to godliness, but the soap industry has its dirty side. Jane Lawson scrubs up.

Ninety-one percent of breakfast cereals are now sold through supermarkets.(1) This change in our shopping habits has challenged the traditional dominance of the three multinationals in the cereals market, Kelloggs, Weetabix and Cereal Partners UK, the joint venture between food giants Nestlé and General Mills.

Supermarkets have been quicker to offer cereals of the budget, healthy, luxury and environmentally friendly varieties that consumers now demand. This threat to the traditional cereal market has led to a surge in new product development of children’s cereals, cereal bar snacks and disposable pots complete with milk. But how will this affect our eating habits?

Kids’ stuff
Kelloggs leads the way in children’s cereals with Tony the Frosties Tiger, Bart Simpson, Spiderman and Scooby-Doo cereals, complete with toys galore. Other brands of children’s cereals are promoted with Teletubbies, Thomas the Tank Engine, the Tweenies, and Action Man.(1) Their marketing skills have given Kelloggs a ‘most trusted brand’ listing, in a recent Readers’ Digest survey.

(1) However, the Food Commission-co-ordinated Parents’ Jury has challenged this. In its Children’s Food Awards in February this year, parents voted Kelloggs’ Coco Pops top of the ‘Breakfast Battles’ category. It was criticised, along with runners up Kelloggs’ Frosties, Nestlé’s Monsters Inc. cereal and Quaker Sugar Puffs for their exceptionally high sugar content (39%, 40%, 35% and 49% respectively).

Chocolatey products such as Coco Pops were also condemned for encouraging children to ask for chocolate at every meal. Additionally, some parents commented that their child “only wanted the silly toy in the box”.(2)

Salt
The Food Commission has also criticised salt levels in cereals aimed at children. Following the arrival of government guidelines in the new Salt and Health report, the Food Commission listed Kelloggs’ Coco Pops, Dailycer’s Thomas the Tank Engine cereal, and Nestlé’s Shreddies amongst the saltiest children’s foods.(3)

Nestlé was also criticised recently in the Food Magazine for its advert for Shredded Wheat, which, although rightly stating the product to be salt free, implied that its other cereals also were. Many of Nestlé’s top brands, Clusters, Golden Nuggets, Golden and Cinnamon Grahams, Cheerios and Monsters Inc. all had high salt content according to Food Standards Agency criteria.(4)

Political Lobbying
It seems all the more worrying to know that the biggest cereal producers featured in our report, Kellogg Co, PepsiCo Inc., General Mills and Nestlé USA, are all members of the Grocery Manufacturers of America (GMA).(5) The GMA, besides having donated $666,847 to the US Republican Party between 1999 and 2002,6 has also opposed at least sixteen separate US Legislations and Bills for restrictions on marketing in schools since February 2003.

PepsiCo and Nestlé are both also members of the US Council for International Business,(7) which joined forces recently with the US Sugar Association to pressure the World Health Organisation to drop its recommendations that sugar should constitute no more than ten percent of a healthy diet, following the release of its expert report ‘Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases’.

GM Oh?
The GMA is also a fierce advocate and lobbyist for GM technology.(5) Other organisations such as the National Food Processors Association (NFPA) and the American Bakers Association (ABA) are also actively lobbying for GM technology and ingredients. Both organisations have also made large donations to the Republican Party election campaign between 1999 and 2002 - the NFPA has given $481,586, and the ABA $274,450.(6)

The NFPA lists General Mills, Nestlé USA and one of PepsiCo Inc.’s subsidiaries, Frito Lay, amongst its members.8 ABA’s website did not list its members, but did reveal that one of its board of directors was the Vice President of General Mills Bakeries and Food Service Wholesale Bakery Division.(9)

After success by campaigners in getting GM ingredients removed from many products in Europe, GM is in the UK news again. Field scale trials are coming to an end, and the government is making a decision whether or not to grow GM crops commercially. Despite large-scale consumer opposition, Tony Blair is keen to lift the EU moratorium banning the growth of GM crops. He is currently under pressure from his own advisers (including the FSA chief, Sir John Krebs), as well as… guess - yes, US President George W. Bush.(10)

As already mentioned, Bush has received substantial sums of money for his election campaign from several major pro-GM US food companies and food trade associations, such as ABA. Given that the ABA states that it is “dedicated to the principles of free enterprise, competition and the economic health of the entire food industry”(9), and other pro-GM organisations make similar claims, it seems more likely that Bush’s aggression is inspired by the firm trade barriers in the EU.

Boycotts calling
The longstanding boycott against Nestlé, for its irresponsible marketing of breast-milk substitutes in the Third World, is still ongoing. As Cereal Partners UK products are marketed under the Nestlé name in the UK, avoiding them is quite straightforward.

However, a recent update from Baby Milk Action revealed that Cereal Partners UK also supplies a number of own brands to supermarkets, allegations which those supermarkets neither confirm nor deny.(11) They sell to Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Safeway, Asda, Waitrose and St Bernard supermarkets several variations of the following cereal types: branflakes, fruit and fibre, wheats, honey nut flakes.

PepsiCo Inc. also features on ECRA’s own Boycott Bush list because it is one of Bush’s top thirty donors with a global consumer brand. Its brands include Sugar Puffs, Harvest Crunch, Quaker and Scott’s Porage Oats.

Health is wealth
Excessive eating of some of the best known cereals certainly would seem to contribute to tooth decay, obesity, diabetes, hyperactivity and high blood pressure. In particular, adults’ eating habits are often formed during childhood. Fortunately, consumers are starting to see beyond the glossy marketing and seek healthier products.

The mainstream brands from Kelloggs, Nestlé and Quaker appear to lack clear guarantees of being GM free. Alara, Doves Farm, Kallo, Pertwood and Whole Earth only offer organic cereals. Jordans, Mornflake and Weetabix have some organic cereal products, and guarantee all its products to be GM free. Dorset Farm’s range is completely GM, sugar and salt free. Alara also makes a fairtrade muesli.

If you want to guarantee your cereals are what you want them to be, then why not make them yourself? You can buy oats and other wholegrains, and add whatever fruit, nuts or seeds take your fancy - you could save pounds on your waist and in your pocket.

References
1 Breakfast Cereals - UK - February 2002, MINTEL
2 www.parentsjury.org/ 7/7/03
3 www.foodcomm.org.uk/salt_may_03.htm 7/7/03
4 www.foodcomm.org.uk/Nestle.pdf 15/07/03
5 www.gmabrands.com 9/7/03
6 www.opensecrets.org 7/7/03
7 www.uscib.org 14/7/03
8 www.nfpa-food.org 9/7/03
9 www.americanbakers.org 9/7/03
10 The Independent 22/6/03
11 www.babymilkaction.org/boycott/boyct32.html#12 4/7/03
12 www.dailycer.com/index_sales.html 14/7/03.
13 Organic Consumers Association, 7/2002
14 www.wessanen.com July 2003
15 Food Magazine July/Sept 2002

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