EWG Report Criticizes Sugar Content of Children’s Cereals
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has issued a December 2011 report
claiming that many popular cereal brands marketed to children contain “just
as much sugar as a dessert—or more.” After reviewing 84 popular brands,
the report’s authors alleged that three out of four cereals failed “to meet
the federal government’s proposed voluntary guidelines for food nutritious
enough to be marketed to children,” with 21 cereals exceeding the sugar limit
“recommended by the industry’s own nutrition initiative.”
In particular, EWG purportedly found that (i) 56 cereals contained “more than
24 to 26 percent sugar by weight”; (ii) 71 cereals exceeded 140 milligrams
of sodium and 10 exceeded 210 milligrams; (iii) seven cereals exceeded 1
gram of saturated fat; and (iv) “at least 26 cereals are not predominantly
whole-grain.”
The group also criticized cereal companies for opposing the 2016 nutrition guidelines suggested by the federal Interagency Working Group (IWG) on Food Marketed to Children. According to EWG, the government’s standards rely on the Food and Drug Administration’s Reference Amounts Customarily Consumed (RACC) instead of serving size, the measure used by the Council of Better Business Bureau’s Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative. “Cereal makers and other food, beverage and entertainment companies are lobbying to kill [IWG’s] proposal,” opined the report. “In an attempt to counter the federal panel’s efforts to improve the nutritional value of foods marketed to children, the food industry has come up with its own so-called standards, and unsurprisingly, they give most kids’ cereals a pass.”
