this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2023
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Kellogg’s is waging a war here over Tigre Toño and Sam el Tucán.

A 2019 policy requires companies that make unhealthy foods to include warning labels on the front of any boxes they sell in Mexico to educate consumers about things like excess sugar and fat. Any food with a warning label — like Kellogg’s Fruit Loops or its Frosted Flakes, which typically contain more than 37 grams of added sugar in a 100-gram serving — is also banned from including a mascot on its packaging.

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[–] [email protected] 128 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Kelloggs has been on the wrong side of history from its conception when they tried to make people stop jerking it

[–] xkforce 73 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Kellogg would be rotating in his grave. The dude was OBSESSED with the healthfulness of cereal (or at least his weird version of it) and his company namesake basically peddles candy in cereal form to children.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Dude thought that meat and flavorful food caused sexual desire and lead to masturbation. He was an anti-masturbation crusader and invented his breakfast cereal to help decrease sexual desire.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

I'm no fan of poisoning our youth and ourselves with sugar, but I do smile at such a puritanical legacy being so obscenely destroyed.

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[–] Sanjuaro 64 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Chile started using these some years back. I honestly like them. We also did the mascot ban as well, so no Tony the Tiger, and even Pringles cans have a censored face

[–] JoeClu 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The question I have, are sales of these products down? Do these implementations work to reduce unhealthy consumption? Are hospitals and medical offices seeing less revenue? If they don't actually work, what will?

[–] themeatbridge 4 points 1 year ago

We don't have that sort of data, at least not enough to determine a causal link. But the cereal manufacturers have tons of research on the best way to sell cereal. So consider the inverse. Would a cereal company need to place a cartoon mascot on the box to help sell unhealthy food to children? Would they fight so hard to keep them there if it wasn't effective?

Every medical scientist would agree that too much sugar is unhealthy. And looking at the nutritional info on the box, these foods have too much sugar. What good is a mascot in the face of cold, hard science? If it appeals to children, they will apply pressure to their parents who will purchase the food "as a treat." And as a treat, a little sugar isn't a big deal. But those kids could be equally excited about a pack of candy or some cookies, which are actual treats, not a part of your daily routine. Without Tony El Tigre, Frosted Flakes look like sugar coated khaki pocket lint. They might enjoy eating them, but they won't clamor for them in the grocery aisle.

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[–] MrFlamey 52 points 1 year ago (2 children)

If nutrition labels bothers them so much, why not just make the cereal more nutritious and less full of shit? It's not hard to see that there is a solution that doesn't involve looking like a villain with an army of lawyers to fight a label.

[–] PickTheStick 32 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Because changing your product, which specifically appeals to the target purchasers because of what you're changing, is going to make your product revenue take a nose dive? It should be obvious why they're fighting it with lawyers. Hopefully the laws are ironclad and upheld so Kellogg's gets their shit pushed in.

[–] CoffeeJunkie 10 points 1 year ago

But their products are known for being high fiber content, so unfortunately, they'll push their shit right back out. 😆

[–] Rilichu 6 points 1 year ago

Selling sugared cardboard is a pretty profitable market apparently

[–] FlyingSquid 52 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Dear god, more than a third of Froot Loops and Frosted Flakes is sugar?!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And that's not the worst I have seen. Things like raisins are basically flavoured sugar.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (10 children)

But they're dried grapes and mostly without added sugar. We shouldn't need to live in a world where raisins are sold "now with less sugar". Humans spent hundreds of years cultivating eating grapes to be as sweet as they are...

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago

Most raisin Bran cereal (including Kellogg's) coat the raisins in more sugar! https://www.seriouseats.com/cereal-eats-the-great-raisin-bran-off

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[–] baruchin 48 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

This is one of the few things this mexican government has done right. I think this was copied from Chile, and should be copied in many countries including the U.S. F*ck those greedy obese factories.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (3 children)

If I'm seeing this right and the Mexican labels are just either-or "excessive" labels then check out the way the UK does it – the green/orange/red colouring makes it easy to tell how horrible something is at a glance

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[–] MicroWave 40 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Now, U.S. regulators are considering a similar policy, because they say it will help consumers make healthier decisions. The details haven’t been ironed out yet — the Food and Drug Administration just announced it is studying the idea. The reforms seem likely to be more modest; the FDA already appears to have rejected the stark, stop-sign-like warnings on Mexican packages and hasn’t mentioned banning mascots. But advocates in both Mexico and the United States say that U.S. regulators should prepare for a years-long political fight.

[–] cybervseas 51 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah because childhood obesity and diabetes is no biggie. Gotta make sure all that corn gets sold…

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

considering they’re still not required to enter the “% daily value” for “total sugars” …

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Isn't the daily amount like 0 you need? So Infinity % for any added amount?

This is actually an honest question, because you can easily cover your daily needs with other carbs and even those are technically not necessarily as it can be metabolized by fat in your body, but no point in bending the truth here. The body needs sugar one way or the other, but none of them are processed sugars and should probably come from rice, potatoes or bread instead.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

“% daily value” is supposedly something like “percent recommended daily value” and it’s a bizarre balance between minimum to avoid deficiencies and maximum to avoid overdose as determined by a board of corporate employees with no training in medicine, diet, or nutrition

so, while there’s no minimum for “total sugars”, most who are actually trained in diet and nutrition seem to agree you really shouldn’t be going over 25–30g total sugars …

FDA does provide a daily value for “added sugars” – 100% daily value is 50g (10-ish teaspoons) which sounds a little excessive to me …

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

At least it sounds almost reasonable if the sugar comes from fruits. That's roughly the amount (25g sugar) you ingest when eating 2 apples.

Thank you for the interesting, but concerning answer.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

the Food and Drug Administration just announced it is studying the idea.

Translation: They are bombarded by the food industry to let this idea go, STAT! They probably don't have time for a (healthy) lunch because lobbyists are sitting on their laps from sunrise to sundown, dictating their version of the law.

[–] aquinteros 23 points 1 year ago

they suffered in the Chilean market when the labels were introduced about 5 years ago... so it's no surprise they are going to war. in stead of ... you know, making healthier food

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (12 children)

I saw this while in Mexico and really liked the idea. I was then immediately bummed out when realizing almost everything had that label on it and buying food without excess sugar and salt was a lot trickier.

[–] INeedMana 10 points 1 year ago

Awareness is the first step. It will take time for people to incentivize production of clean food

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (9 children)

Any food with ... more than 37 grams of added sugar in a 100-gram serving is also banned from including a mascot on its packaging

Damn, that's really good. Sounds a little bit like the plain packaging laws many countries have on cigarettes, which have proven to be extremely effective in the decade since they were first rolled out. It's obviously a bit more limited, but it's still a great move.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Wait, wait - does that mean we're going to lose the Coca-Cola polar bear?!

[Actually, they'll probably just release the Christmas version in a collectable polar-bear-shaped bottle to get around this... ]

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