General Mills Faces Lawsuit Over Cheerios Protein Claims

11 Nov 2015 --- First US food giant General Mills was forced to recall thousands of boxes of its Cheerios breakfast cereal in October, due to false labelling, now the cereal is coming under fire again, also for what is claimed to be misleading labelling and false advertising.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is suing the makers of Cheerios over its latest marketing campaign that claims its Cheerios Protein is higher in protein than its original Cheerios. The CSPI argues that on a like-for-like basis there is just marginally more protein but that there is considerably more sugar, making the new product less healthy.

The CSPI claims that the main thing that distinguishes Cheerios Protein from Cheerios is that the former has 17 times as much sugar.

In a statement, it said: “Cheerios Protein boasts on the front of its box that it has 11 grams of protein; four of those grams come from the milk, leaving seven grams from the cereal. Original Cheerios has three grams of protein. That four gram difference represents a small amount of protein— just five percent of the average American’s intake. But much of that difference is attributable to differences in serving sizes. Cheerios Protein has a bigger, 55-gram serving size, whereas Cheerios uses a 27-gram serving size. Two ounces of each cereal have just about the same amount of protein.”

It continued: “The far larger nutritional difference between Cheerios Protein and Cheerios is sugar. A 1¼ cup serving of Cheerios Protein contains 17 times as much sugar as original Cheerios, which only has one gram of sugar per one-cup serving. In fact, Cheerios Protein Oats & Honey has eight forms of added sugars, including brown sugar, sugar, corn syrup, corn syrup solids, molasses, caramel (containing sugar and caramelized sugar syrup), honey, and refiner’s syrup.”

“Consumers who buy Cheerios Protein probably think they’re doing themselves a favor, and that this more expensive product is essentially a protein-fortified version of original Cheerios,” said CSPI litigation director Maia Kats. “In fact, the main thing that distinguishes Cheerios Protein from original Cheerios is the huge amount of sugar and extra calories. With 17 times as much sugar as original Cheerios, Cheerios Protein is actually more conducive to diabetes, weight gain, heart disease, and tooth decay.”

In a statement, General Mills told US news station ABC News, "Cheerios Protein is accurately labeled. An equal amount of Cheerios Protein contains 18 percent more protein than regular Cheerios.” The company declined to comment on the sugar content of its Cheerios products.