Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is investigating WK Kellogg Co., a Michigan-based cereal company, for potentially violating consumer protection laws over artificial dyes in its cereals.
The attorney general said that Kellogg advertises its cereals, including Froot Loops, Frosted Flakes, Apple Jacks and Rice Krispies as “healthy,” but some of them contain petroleum-based artificial food dyes that he claims are linked to hyperactivity, obesity, autoimmune disease, endocrine-related health problems and cancer.
“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 said. “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.’ 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.”
The attorney general said the company announced it would remove artificial food dyes and BHT, a chemical preservative, from its products by 2018.
The company, which is headquartered in Battle Creek, removed the dyes and BHT from products sold in other countries, including Canada, but hasn’t removed them from products sold in the U.S.
Local 4 has reached out to WK Kellogg Co. for a statement.
Kellogg Company split into two separate companies in 2023: Kellanova and WK Kellogg Co.
Kellanova focuses on global snacking, international cereal, and noodles, while the North American cereal brands are under WK Kellogg Co.
This investigation comes as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy starts to implement his “Make America Healthy Again” plan to fight the “childhood chronic disease epidemic.”
As part of this plan, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a major restructuring at the end of March, downsizing from 82,000 full-time employees to 62,000.
“We aren’t just reducing bureaucratic sprawl. We are realigning the organization with its core mission and our new priorities in reversing the chronic disease epidemic,” Kennedy said in the release on March 27. “This Department will do more – a lot more – at a lower cost to the taxpayer.”
Reducing exposure to highly processed foods and artificial dyes is part of Kennedy’s plan.
This also comes after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned red dye No. 3 from food in January.
The agency banned the synthetic dye, which gives food a red hue, because studies revealed that it caused cancer in lab rats.
Manufacturers have until January 2027 to remove the dye from foods, and until January 2028 for ingested drugs like cough syrup.
