Just in time for Halloween the Food and Drug Administration has some spooky news for parents: Those so-called healthy cereals you’ve been feeding your kids may not be as nutritious as they claim to be.
A while back cereal manufacturers, including Kellogg’s and General Mills, started displaying banners on their boxes announcing that their delicious sugared breakfast treats were “Smart Choices” and “Healthy Choices” respectively.
For example, General Mills proudly declares that Cocoa Puffs are a “Smart Choice” for kids, despite the fact that the cereal, which turns leftover milk into fudgy syrup, contains 40 percent sugar.
How healthy is that?
According to General Mills, that’s darn healthy, considering the other 60 percent of the cereal contains nutritious whole grains.
Apparently, the FDA is not convinced and it’s planning to crack down on the likes of Kellogg’s and General Mills. In a public statement released earlier this week, the government group said the “Healthy Choice” and “Smart Choice” labels employed by cereal manufacturers are “confusing” and “misleading.” Consequently, the FDA plans to develop a nutritional gold standard for foods labeled “healthy” and chances are a product that contains 40 percent sugar will not make the cut.
I applaud the FDA’s efforts, but I also wonder how many parents really believe that Cocoa Puffs are actually healthy?
I also wonder what the FDA thinks about all the other popular kiddie cereals that don’t flash a “Healthy Choice” or “Smart Choice” label? I can’t help but smile thinking of the choice comments the folks at the FDA would make regarding the Syfy channel’s top picks for Haunted Halloween cereals.
You know, because all good parents want to kick start their kid’s Halloween with a sugar rush that won’t end until they collapse into a heap of candy at the end of trick-or-treating.
Want a good scare this Halloween? Try reading the list of ingredients on the back of these cereal boxes:
Count Chocula
Franken Berry
Boo Berry
The Addams Family-The creepy crunchy cereal with the great taste you’ll scream for
Halloween Lucky Charms with Spooky Marshmallows
Ghostbusters—The crunch bustin’ fruit flavored cereal with Halloween marshmallow ghosts
Fruity Freakies—The super sweet cereal in shape of freaky-looking creatures
The Real Ghostbusters Cereal
Casper Sugar Chex
Cap’n Crunch’s Halloween Crunch—The cereal with ghosts that turn milk green
Slimer and the Real Ghostbusters
Fruity Yummy Mummy—The fruit flavored frosted cereal with vanilla marshmallows
Gremlins
Green Slime—The Nickelodeon-inspired cereal with orange marshmallows and green cereal pieces
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