Campaigners have had a Coco Pop at Kellogg’s after it launched legal action against the Government over new rules covering its high sugar breakfast cereals.
Regulations stopping products high in fat, salt and sugar being prominently displayed in supermarkets were due to come into effect in England in October.
Kellogg’s has had an application for a judicial review approved and a court hearing which began today.
It is the first major challenge to new UK policies aimed at tackling the obesity crisis.
The dispute centres on whether milk is factored in to the nutritional make-up of products such as Crunchy Nut, Rice Krispies, Frosties and Corn Flakes.
Including added milk would change the calculation by reducing the proportion of sugar and salt content relative to the weight of the serving.
Chris Silcock, the company’s UK managing director, said: “We believe the formula being used by the Government to measure the nutritional value of breakfast cereals is wrong and not implemented legally. It measures cereals dry when they are almost always eaten with milk.”
New rules will restrict the placement of food and drink high in fat, salt or sugar in stores and promotion of those goods by retailers from October.
Products considered less healthy cannot be featured in key store locations, such as checkouts, entrances, aisle ends and their online equivalents.
Stores will also have to restrict volume price promotions such as buy one get one free or 3 for 2 offers on so-called HFSS products.
Caroline Cerny, lead at the Obesity Health Alliance. She said: “This is a blatant attempt to wriggle out of vital new regulations that will limit their ability to profit from marketing their unhealthy products.
“As the UK attempts to recover from the last two years that have had a massively detrimental impact on the nation’s health and public finances, it’s shocking that Kellogg’s would sue the Government over plans to help people be healthier rather than removing sugar from their cereals.”
Obesity costs the NHS more than £6billion a year and is the second biggest cause of cancer in the UK.
Barbara Crowther, of Sustain’s children’s food campaign, claimed: “It is correct for the nutrient profile model to assess breakfast cereals on the basis of what is actually in the packet as sold, and not what people choose to add to their breakfast.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “Breakfast cereals contribute 7% to the average daily free sugar intakes of children.
“Restricting the promotion and advertising of less healthy foods is an important part of the strategy to halve childhood obesity by 2030.”
