Kellogg’s to slash sugar ... and kill off Ricicles

FOR years, they were advertised as ‘twicicles as niceicles’.

But now Kellogg’s is to stop making its Ricicles cereal as part of a crackdown on sugar.

The brand will be discontinued next month – and the company will also cut the sugar in a range of other cereals, including bestseller Coco Pops.

Ricicles – sugar-frosted puffed rice in packs featuring a cartoon spaceman called Captain Rik – have been a favourite at breakfast since the Sixties. But they are among the sweetest of cereals, with 34g of sugar per 100g. This equates to eight and a half teaspoons of sugar.

Kellogg’s also announced sugar in Rice Krispies will be cut by a fifth – making it one of the lowest sugar cereals on the market – and in Rice Krispies Multi- Grain Shapes by 30 per cent.

The US company is one of the first multinationals to respond so sweepingly to the Government’s drive to cut sugar by 20 per cent in prepared food by 2020.

Oli Morton, Kellogg’s UK’s managing director, said: ‘We know we have a responsibility to continuously improve the nutrition of our food. We recognise… that people are eating too much sugar at breakfast and throughout the day and they need more options. That’s why we are announcing more changes to our foods.’

He added that Kellogg’s had a long tradition of helping to improve the nation’s diet by pioneering high fibre foods, adding folic acid and reducing salt.

From July Coco Pops, the chocolate-flavoured puffed rice cereal, will have 40 per cent less sugar, from 30g per 100g to 17g – just over four teaspoons.

It will also stop children’s pack promotions on Frosties, the sugar coated flakes, which could reduce their attraction to youngsters. Sugar will not be replaced by artificial sweeteners in the new recipes.

Salt in Kellogg’s children’s cereals will also be cut next year – by 10 per cent in Rice Krispies and by half in Multi-Grain Shapes.

Earlier this year officials at Public Health England called on food firms to cut sugar by 20 per cent by 2020, and by five per cent by the end of this year.

Duncan Selbie PHE chief executive, said: ‘Kellogg UK has shown great leadership. We hope this announcement will encourage other companies to make significant reductions and produce healthier products.’

‘Significant reductions’