My dear friend and activist Jason Karp launched a major legal campaign on Kellogg’s last week. 

He hired one of the top lawyers in the country, Alex Spiro, and sent a letter to Kellogg’s demanding that they sell Americans the same cereals they sell in other countries without artificial dyes and BHT: “as a minimum first step, Kellogg must reinstate — and immediately deliver on — its commitment to remove artificial dyes from its products.”

Kellogg’s continues selling Americans cereals full of artificial dyes they don’t use in other countries, even after promising in the media nearly 10 YEARS ago that they would be removing them. (1) And most of these cereals target our kids. It’s so unethical! 

In the letter they ask for a meeting with WK Kellogg’s Board of Directors to discuss the timeline for removing these ingredients and state that they “will not hesitate to hold Kellogg’s leadership accountable”. 

BOOM!!!!

Read the letter from attorney Alex Spiro to Kellogg’s in its entirety here:

This news is starting to get shared in the media, with articles in the The New York Times and New York Post:

“Kellogg’s Froot Loops made with ‘harmful additives’ despite vow to remove dyes” – New York Post (3/14/24)

“DealBook: Activist investing in the cereal aisle” – The New York Times (3/14/24)

I love seeing this information back in the news. People should know about this and demand better. Kellogg’s should not be able to get away with this.

But it sure is interesting to see how the FDA defends artificial dyes when you’re challenging a powerful billion dollar food corporation, like Kellogg’s.

For example, look at these quotes from the media coverage:

• “The Food and Drug Administration says color additives when used according to its regulations are safe for consumption and that no causal link has been established between the chemicals and behavioral effects in children”. (New York Post)
• “studies haven’t definitively found that they harm children”. (The New York Times)

This is a lie!

The groundbreaking University of Southampton Study in 2007 found a strong link between artificial dye and sodium benzoate consumption in children and hyperactivity. (2)

This led the European Food Safety Authority to require all products that contain the “Southampton Six” artificial food dyes (Yellow #6, Quinoline Yellow, Carmoisine, Red #40, Yellow #5, and Ponceau 4R) to carry a warning label that they “may have an effect on activity and attention in children”. (3) 

This is why you hardly ever find a product in the U.K. and Europe with artificial dyes. They don’t want to slap this warning label on their products!

Instead, they use fruit and vegetable concentrates to color their cereals. 

In 2021, the state of California backed Europe’s findings, after conducting a 2-year scientific review of 7 artificial dyes approved by the FDA:

“Overall, human studies indicate that synthetic food dyes are associated with adverse neurobehavioral outcomes in children, and that children vary in their sensitivity to synthetic food dyes…current federal levels for safe intake of synthetic food dyes may not sufficiently protect children’s behavioral health. The levels were established by the US Food and Drug Administration decades ago and do not reflect newer research.” (4)

Artificial colors have also been shown to affect memory and learning, causing changes to neurotransmitters in the brain! (4) Additional research shows they disrupt the immune system (5) and are laced with carcinogens.(6)

Clearly, these dyes come with several scientifically-backed health risks. 

You’ve got to question why the FDA is lying to you…saying there is “no causal link”.

Who are they covering for?

Why are they protecting Big Food brands like Kellogg’s?

When you read these articles, call them out for it!

I’ve been working to make a change to Kellogg’s cereals for nearly 10 years, and feel like NOW IS OUR TIME. 

I launched my 2nd petition to Kellogg’s in 2019, asking them to keep their promise and dump the dyes. The Food Babe Army went wild sharing this petition and we gathered over 50k signatures in a few months. As I was getting ready to book a flight to take these signed petitions to Kellogg’s headquarters in Michigan, the unexpected happened. The world came to a screeching halt when Covid hit, and this put a big wrench in our plans. 

But now it’s time. We are going to hit them from every angle, forming a powerful coalition with incredible activists… Jason Karp, Jesse Itzler, Calley Means, and more!

Along with YOU and the entire Food Babe Army!!! 

We NEED YOUR HELP to force Kellogg’s to change and make this campaign a raging success. 

If you agree it’s time to stop poisoning our children with ingredients that Kellogg’s knows they should not use, especially since they already make safer versions overseas, please do these two things today:

1. Sign and share this petition demanding that Kellogg’s remove artificial dyes and BHT from their cereals, which they already don’t use in other countries. Let’s get to 100,000 signatures!
2. Share this post on social media to spread the word about this campaign. 

SIGN & SHARE: Tell Kellogg’s to remove artificial dyes & BHT from all of their cereals

I am counting on you to spread the word so Kellogg’s has no choice but to surrender – this has gone on long enough! Go Food Babe Army, Go!!! 

This is our time. 

Xo,

Vani

P.S. Please share this post and ask your friends to sign the petition here. It’s going to take all of us to influence them to change!