CPUK removes 59 million teaspoons of sugar from Nestlé breakfast cereals

Cereal Partners UK (CPUK), the maker of Nestlé breakfast cereals, said it is removing an estimated 59 million teaspoons of sugar and 3 million teaspoons of salt from its products, as it continues this year its staggered ‘salami slice’ reformulation approach to improve the nutritional profile of its cereals.

Reductions in sugar and salt are being made across family favourite brands: Coco Shreddies, Frosted Shreddies, Honey Cheerios, Nesquik, Cookie Crisp and Golden Nuggets.

By the end of this year, there will be up to 16% less sugar and 50% less salt across these brands, which will no longer have any red traffic lights under the government’s front of pack nutritional labelling scheme.

CPUK’s ‘salami slice’ approach to reformulation has resulted in the gradual removal of 516 million teaspoons of sugar and 20 million teaspoons of salt across all products between 2010 and 2020. The business said the small and gradual reductions have allowed maintaining taste, while improving the nutritional content, including the addition of more whole grain to its cereals.

Coco Shreddies, Frosted Shreddies, Honey Cheerios, Nesquik, Cookie Crisp and Golden Nuggets will also join a number of CPUK’s other family-favourite products, including Shredded Wheat, Shreddies Original and Multigrain Cheerios, in being classified as non-high in fat, sugar and salt (non-HFSS) according to the government’s Nutrient profiling model.

“The sugar and salt reductions we’ve achieved this year are evidence of our long-term commitment and ambitious plans to improve the nutritional value of our cereals,” Gharry Eccles, vice president UK & Oceania, Cereal Partners Worldwide (Nestlé & General Mills), commented.

“Our journey began in 2003, and our priority has been to maintain the same great taste consumers know and love, while simultaneously providing options that are convenient, affordable and nutritious.”

As a result of increasing whole grain content, CPUK added 106 million more 16g servings of whole grain to its cereals between 2010 and 2020, and all products with the signature front-of-pack green banner have whole grain as their number one ingredient. With the UK’s recommended fibre intake for adults sitting at 30g per day, choosing breakfast cereals containing whole grain is an easy way to increase fibre intake.

“We’ve found little and often to be the most successful method of product renovation – the salami slice approach. It means we’ve been able to increase whole grain content in parallel to our sugar reduction work to create a ‘sugar vs. whole grain’ seesaw pattern across many of our brands,” explained Julie Foster, nutrition, regulatory and scientific affairs manager, Cereal Partners Worldwide UK & Oceania.

“For example, back in 2003, Golden Nuggets contained no whole grain at all, and now it’s the number one ingredient. This approach marks our commitment to constant improvement and providing breakfast meals with key fibre and micronutrients to millions of people in the UK.

“We are also innovating to create new, low sugar versions of family favourites. Having launched our low-sugar Shreddies The Simple One earlier this year, last week we added another new and delicious low-sugar NPD to our portfolio, Cheerios Vanilla O’s, which has less than 5% sugar. We know we can still go further and are excited for what’s next.”