- Air sucked out of cereal packs to reduce carbon footprint
- 10 per cent sugar and 20 per cent salt removed from its kid’s cereals
- Pledge to provide 2,000 children in Ireland with breakfast in 2021 through school breakfast clubs
Cereal and snacks giant Kellogg has unveiled a new decade-long plan to further improve its foods so that they are better for people, the community and the planet.
Over the next 10 years, the company will tackle salt and sugar, make its kid’s cereals even better, increase fibre, feed more people in need and address the carbon footprint of both its packaging and operations across the continent.
The raft of measures was announced today as Kellogg, whose headquarters are in Dublin, launched a new Wellbeing Manifesto setting out its ambition to make good food that does a world of good too.
Without affecting taste, at least 20 per cent of salt will be removed from its kid’s cereals by the end of 2022 and sugar will be reduced by 10 per cent. As a result, all its children’s cereals will now be classified as either Nutri-Score B or better and non-HFSS. Sugar will also be reduced in Krave*, a favourite cereal for young adults.
Kellogg will help address Ireland’s chronic lack of fibre by ensuring many of its breakfast foods are either a source or high in fibre by the end of 2023.
700 tonnes of carbon will be stripped out of the company’s operations as a result of planned changes to its packaging too.
It will launch a new type of cereal box with less air space and packaging. This means the company will use almost 190 tonnes less cardboard and plastic annually which, combined with transport efficiencies, will remove 700 tonnes of carbon a year.
The new packs will include the same weight of cereal and will roll off production lines in its Manchester, England, manufacturing facility this Spring.
As part of the company’s continued efforts to help feed those who need it most through its Better Days global purpose platform, Kellogg Ireland will fund breakfast clubs at 28 Irish schools in 2021 in partnership with the Community Foundation for Ireland.
General Manager Kellogg Ireland, Sarah Ferguson, said: “People are rightly demanding more from companies like ours and everyone expects good food to do a world of good too. We agree. That’s why we are launching a major new plan to improve our foods.
“Over the past years we’ve done a lot of work to reduce things like sugar and salt while keeping the same great taste people expect from our foods. And, we’ll continue to act here as we know it is important.
“But the impact of our food is much broader than just what goes in the box. It’s about how we grow our ingredients and the impact we have on the planet and how we cook and make our food. It’s also about the social and emotional role of food and how it brings people together.”
The new wellbeing action plan is designed to build on Kellogg’s efforts over the last decade to feed people in need and help people make healthier and more sustainable choices.
Since 2013 across Ireland, Kellogg has donated €360,000 to school breakfast clubs in Ireland and removed over 900 tonnes of sugar from the diet of consumers by reducing sugar.
“Our company was founded in 1906 by a visionary vegetarian who believed that a plant-based diet was the right diet. What we are announcing today is a continuation of that idea but updated for the 21st century by looking at the total impact of our food on people and the planet. We are committed to this work and we will continue to make progress and to play our part,” concluded Sarah.
*sugar in Krave will be reduced by an average of 12%
