Is it really 1/2 sugar and 1/2 grain?

Looks like the FDA is going to take a closer look at those "Smart Choices" and other manufacturer labels that we can find on our cereals and other food products.

Check out the story here

Celebrating the Greatness of Boo Berry Monster

Your clearinghouse for all cereal monster related material.

Monsters Cereal Blog

Kellogg banking on fiber as next consumer craze

Kellogg's brings us FIBER MADNESS:

The launch begins next month when fiber-enhanced Fruit Loops and Apple Jacks, two of the company's most popular children's cereals, replace the old versions on supermarket shelves.

The cereals were chosen to kick off the initiative because they are widely available and among the market's bestsellers, said Celeste Clark, Kellogg's senior vice president of global nutrition and corporate affairs.

"It's tough to get kids to get fiber and add it without compromising taste," Clark said.

The Detroit News

Frosted Focus

Frosted Mini Wheats allow you to understand arcane coffee speak ...

No Grapes, No Nuts, No Market Share: A Venerable Cereal Faces Crunchtime

WSJ attempts to answer the un-answerable: What the hell is a Grape Nut?

For 111 years, over breakfast, Americans have wondered: What's a grape nut? A grape nut looks like a kidney stone, but the name, unlike shredded wheat's, isn't self-descriptive. This raises many reasonable questions: Is it grapes that haven't developed? What part of the grape do they use? For those who have read the box and learned what Grape Nuts are made of (flour), a denser issue arises: How does a cereal with the mouthfeel of gravel get manufactured?

Also, some insight into the new euphemism-heavy campaign:

"We need to bring it back to life in a relevant way," says Kelley Peters, the "insights" director who charts Grape Nuts psychographics for Ralcorp's $5 million resuscitation attempt. Her target: men 45 years old and up. "Men aspire to it," she says. "It's strong and stern, the father figure of cereals." Her marketing chief, Jennifer Marchant, points out: "It tends to break your teeth sometimes."

Wall Street Journal

FDA warns General Mills over Cheerios cholesterol claims

The FDA has sent a warning letter to General Mills, telling the company that its claims about the health benefits of eating Cheerios "would cause it to be a drug because the product is intended for use in the prevention, mitigation and treatment of disease."

The problem: Cheerios are a food not a drug, the FDA notes in the letter, which was sent May 5 but was posted on the agency's website today. Thus, claims that the 68-year-old whole-grain oat cereal lowers cholesterol and reduces the risk of heart disease and cancer violates federal law, the agency said.

LA Times

General Mills, Target Play on Consumers' Nostalgia

General Mills has given Target a month-long exclusive on retro box designs for some of its best-selling cereals, Cheerios, Honey Nut Cheerios, Lucky Charms, Cocoa Puffs and Trix. The package-food company is giving away T-shirts with the old designs as part of the deal. Consumers with five proof-of-purchase labels will be entitled to a free shirt at cerealwear.com. Consumers who would rather just buy one can go to the site and spend $5 to don a defunct Mills design.

Ad Age

Study: Too Much Sugar in Kids' Cereals

MSNBC

Kellogg Buys Australian Cereal Company

It has acquired Specialty Cereals Pty Limited, a privately owned manufacturer of natural ready-to-eat cereals based in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1988, Specialty Cereals markets products under the Vogels, Wild Oats, and Cerevite brands.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. With Specialty Cereals' net sales of approximately $17 million for the 2007-08 Australian Financial Year, the transaction is not expected to have a material impact on Kellogg's 2008 operating profit, it said.

Marketing Daily