The Attorney General of Texas Is Investigating Kellogg's for Falsifying Health Claims

Yahoo

16-04-2025

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has opened an investigation into WK Kellogg Co, commonly known as Kellogg's, for advertising its products as healthy.
Paxton's statement says Kellogg's cereals contain petroleum-based artificial dyes that have been linked to multiple health problems.
Although Kellogg's has previously promised to remove all artificial dyes and flavorings from its products by 2018, this investigation alleges that it has failed to do so.Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wants you to take a long, hard look at your cereal box.
In early April, Paxton released a statement alleging that cereal giant WK Kellogg Co violated 'Texas consumer protection laws' after the company advertised several of its products as 'healthy.' WK Kellogg Co — colloquially known as "Kellogg's" — is the North American company that was spun off from Kellanova, previously titled the Kellogg Company, in 2023.
'A critical part of fighting for our children's future is putting an end to companies' deceptive practices that are aimed at misleading parents and families about the health of food products,' Paxton says. 'Artificial food colorings have been shown to have disastrous impacts on health, and in no world should foods that include these dyes be advertised as 'healthy.'"Here's what you need to know about the investigation.
Paxton's office specifically points to 'cereals such as Froot Loops, Apple Jacks, Frosted Flakes, and Rice Krispies' as prime targets in the investigation, noting that the brand often touts these cereals as 'healthy' choices.
However, the office takes issue with this claim as it says the cereal company continues to use 'petroleum-based artificial food colorings,' which the attorney general explains have been linked to health issues like "hyperactivity, obesity, autoimmune disease, endocrine-related health problems, and cancer in those who consume them."
'There will be accountability for any company, including Kellogg's, that unlawfully makes misrepresentations about its food and contributes to a broken health system that has made Americans less healthy,' Paxton adds.
Paxton's office isn't wrong about the connection between artificial food colorings and hyperactivity.
A 2007 study published in the peer-reviewed medical journal Lancet showed that artificial colors and the preservative sodium benzoate can cause increased hyperactivity in children.
A more recent review of research in 2022 on the connection between blue food coloring and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADHD) symptoms in kids concluded: "The studies that were reviewed in this article show that diet, especially consumption of artificial food coloring, produces statistically significant increases in ADHD symptoms in children."
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'The evidence now shows pretty conclusively that when some kids eat these, they will experience nervous system effects that look like ADHD,' Thomas Galligan, a scientist who focuses on food additives at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, told NPR in 2023. 'There are 27 human clinical trials that show these dyes do, in fact, harm children's behavior.'
More research is needed to determine if artificial dyes are connected to cancer, although some dyes do contain contaminants that are possible carcinogens. Red Dye No. 3 has been most clearly shown to increase the risk of cancer but is not used in Kellogg's cereals.
According to Paxton, the cereals listed in his investigation include 'blue, red, yellow, green, and orange artificial food colorings.'
In 2015, Kellogg's pledged to remove artificial colors and flavors from all its cereals and snack bars by the end of 2018. "We have been working to remove artificial colors and flavors across Kellogg's branded cereals and a variety of Kellogg's branded snack bars as well as Eggo frozen foods," Paul Norman, then president of North American operations for Kellogg's, shared at the time, as reported by USA TODAY. 'Our goal is to complete this transition by the end of 2018.'
However, as Paxton's office points out in its press release, while Kellogg's has reformulated these cereals in Canada and Europe to meet stricter ingredient standards, the same products remain largely unchanged in American grocery stores.
In October 2024, protestors stood outside the cereal company's Michigan headquarters to demand that it make good on the promise. Following the protest, Kellogg's shared in a statement: 'Today, more than 85% of our cereal sales contain no colors from artificial sources… We continuously innovate new cereals that do not contain colors from artificial sources across our biggest brands, offering a broad choice of nourishing foods for our consumers.'
This investigation comes at a time of increased scrutiny toward artificial dyes in America's food supply.
In January, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned Red Dye No. 3 in food, beverages, and ingested drugs in the United States. The dye must be removed from food products by mid-January 2027 and from ingested drugs in 2028.
This ban was based on the authority of what's known as the Delaney Clause, part of the Food Additives Amendment of 1958. "The Delaney Clause is clear; the FDA cannot authorize a food additive or color additive if it has been found to cause cancer in humans or animals," Jim Jones, the FDA's deputy commissioner for human foods, said in a statement about the ban. Several states have their own bans on dyes and additives, including California, which banned Red Dye No. 3, brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, and propylparaben in 2023.
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West Virginia recently passed new law barring the use of Red Dye No. 3, Red Dye No. 40, Yellow Dye No. 5, Yellow Dye No. 6, Blue Dye No. 1, Blue Dye No. 2, and Green Dye No. 3, along with the preservatives butylated hydroxyanisole and propylparaben, from being used in drugs or food products sold in the state. The dyes will be banned from use in "any meal served in a school nutrition program" starting on August 1 and will be prohibited statewide beginning January 1, 2028.
Consumers who want to stay informed can keep up with ongoing state-level legislation that targets dyes and preservatives by using the Environmental Working Group's interactive map, which documents food bills across the country.
Food & Wine has reached out to Kellogg's for comment and will update this story if we receive a response.
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