Kellogg’s Cereals and Nutri-Grain Products

November 2021: The Court granted final approval of the settlement agreement.

September 2021: Plaintiffs moved for final approval of the settlement agreement.

June 2021: The Court granted preliminary approval of a revised settlement agreement. Go to https://cerealclaims.com/ for more information.

February 2020: The Court denied preliminary approval of the proposed class-action settlement. Click here to read the decision.

2019: Plaintiffs moved for preliminary approval of a proposed settlement agreement that would provide class members with either a cash award or a voucher to use toward future purchases. The amount of each class member’s cash award or voucher depends on the number and type of cereals they purchased. The company also agreed to make certain changes to the marketing of cereals. According to the settlement terms, the company agreed, for a period of two years, to remove “Heart Healthy” representations from boxes of Smart Start and only display “Heart Health” claims on the bottom half of boxes of Raisin Bran. The company also agreed, for a period of three years, to:

• Follow federal regulations when making “healthy” claims regarding cereals;
• Remove “lightly sweetened” claims from Frosted Mini-Wheats and Smart Start cereal boxes;
• Not represent that cereals have “No High Fructose Corn Syrup” or make other similar claims; and
• Only use “wholesome,” “nutritious,” “benefits,” or other similar words to describe specific ingredients or nutrients and not to describe the cereals themselves

if more than ten percent of the calories in one serving of a cereal comes from added sugar.

2016: A false advertising class-action lawsuit was filed against Kellogg alleging that the company deceptively markets its name brand Raisin Bran, Smart Start, Crunchy Nut, and Nutri-Grain products as healthy, nutritious, and wholesome when, according to the complaint, they contain high amounts of sugar and, as a result, increase the risk of chronic diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular, and obesity. (Plaintiffs filed an amended complaint in 2019.) (Hadley et al v. Kellogg Sales Company, Case No. 16-cv-4955, N.D. Cal.)

For more of TINA.org’s coverage of Kellogg’s, click here.