Growing up, my parents had a strict no-cereal-for-breakfast rule. They’d break it on occasion—but only for Raisin Bran.
Apparently, they were ahead of the curve.
Last month, hundreds of parents gathered outside Kellogg’s headquarters in Battle Creek to protest the company’s continued use of artificial dyes and preservatives in its cereals. The protesters delivered a petition that included more than 410,000 signatures from families across the country, asking Kellogg’s to take the health of their children seriously.
“This will be the biggest petition ever collected taking on the food industry,” organizer Vani Hari, also known online as Food Babe, said at the event. “Kellogg’s, if you are listening, please let us in, you cannot turn your back on this many voices.”
Kellogg’s didn’t let Hari in. Employees inside the building even held up signs demanding that protesters “get off the grass,” she said.
A member of corporate security eventually came out to collect the petition. Hari made sure to let the company know she’d be leaving them with a boycott as well.
“From this point forward, no American should buy Kellogg’s products,” Hari told the protesters. “They could have been the hero today, they could have done what they’re doing in virtually every other country… I hope these petitions continue to grow, we’re not going to stop… and we’re going to lead the boycott on Kellogg’s.”
Hari’s argument against Kellogg’s is simple: The company vowed nearly 10 years ago to remove all artificial additives from cereal products sold in the U.S. by 2018, but never did. Kellogg’s did, however, remove those additives from products sold in other countries, including Canada, where food regulations are stricter.
That means American children—and only American children—who consume any one of the 92 million boxes of Fruit Loops sold in the U.S. every year will also consume Red Dye No. 40, Yellow Dye No. 5, Yellow Dye No. 6, and Blue Dye No. 1.
Those terms might not sound worrisome on their own. After all, I’m sure most moms have used food dye at some point while cooking or baking. But those dyes, when consumed frequently, have been linked to serious health issues, including attention disorders and even cancer.
The connection between artificial dyes and hyperactivity in children prompted California to pass a bill, signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom this year, barring schools from serving food with the chemicals. Similar legislation has been introduced in 10 other states.
This isn’t just health-influencer fearmongering. The consumption of artificial dyes has increased more than fivefold since 1955, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest. As of 2015, food companies were using more than 17 million pounds of dyes in their products.
At the same time, attention deficit disorder diagnoses have skyrocketed. One in nine American children is now diagnosed with ADHD, and that uptick shows no sign of slowing down any time soon.
Even the FDA admitted, in its deceptively vague way, that while many children “have no adverse effects when consuming foods containing color additives, some evidence suggests that certain children may be sensitive to them.”
Hence why Europe requires products containing these dyes to post a warning on its packaging, informing consumers that said products “may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.” The U.S. does not require any such disclaimer.
But food dyes aren’t even the most alarming ingredient included in Kellogg’s products. Their cereals also contain the preservative BHT, short for butylated hydroxytoluene, which is banned outright in Europe. BHT has been linked to liver, kidney, and lung problems, as well as tumors, and can interfere with the body’s hormones.
These are just a few of the nearly 4,000 chemicals the FDA allows to be added to our food. We all unknowingly and unwittingly consume these toxins, because they are impossible to avoid.
Parents cannot possibly be expected to know about every single one of these chemicals. Nor should they have to comb through the ingredients of every single item on their grocery list just to try and give their children the healthiest options possible. And even if they wanted to invest that kind of time and energy into what ought to be a basic household task, parents can’t be sure the product’s ingredient list is entirely accurate. Oftentimes, companies can exclude certain chemicals from their products’ nutritional labels if those chemicals are used in small enough quantities.
One would think our government, which never shies away from dictating how we live our lives, would be a bit more interested in regulating something as important as nutrition. If Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his ‘Make America Healthy Again’ movement has anything to say about this, it will be.
But until then, it’s up to us, the consumers, to take their concerns directly to the companies and hit them in the one place they’ll feel it: their profit margins.
Kaylee McGhee White is the Restoring America editor for the Washington Examiner, a Tony Blankley fellow for the Steamboat Institute, and a senior fellow for the Independent Women’s Forum. She grew up in Metro Detroit and graduated from Hillsdale College. Follow her on X @KayleeDMcGhee.
