Whatever Happened To Froot Loops Cereal Straws?

When Kellogg's announced that it would be bringing back its Froot Loops Cereal Straws, many consumers who remember the product growing up rejoiced. According to USA Today, Froot Loops Cereal Straws were taken off shelves in 2009, but a Change.org petition started in 2017 was still being circulated well into 2021, when 81,000 signatures finally got the attention of the cereal company. "After a 12-year hiatus, the nostalgia-inducing Kellogg's Cereal Straws are revived in two flavors: Kellogg's Froot Loops and Kellogg's Cocoa Krispies," Kelloggs said in a statement shared by USA Today.

With nostalgic food products like Dunkaroos and Oreo Cakesters making a comeback, it makes sense that Kellogg's would hop on the trend and revive one of theirs, but why would such a popular product be discontinued in the first place? In the case of Froot Loops Cereal Straws, it seems people are looking back at the past through rose colored glasses, because the breakfast treat wasn't actually as loved as many may think.

If you remember Froot Loops Cereal Straws with fondness, it's probably because you weren't a parent between 2007 and 2009 when the product was still on shelves. Around this time, New York Post reports, Kellogg's was in such hot water with parent consumer groups that The Center for Science in the Public Interest threatened a lawsuit, citing the company's constant promotion of "nutritionally poor foods" in advertisements targeted at children. Though the lawsuit didn't call out at any one product, it's easy to see how the outrage could apply to the cereal straws. One commercial for the product uploaded to YouTube shows the mascot Toucan Sam introducing the sugary treat as a fun way to eat cereal and drink milk all in one, and it's clearly directed towards children rather than parents.

Reuters reported that in response to the lawsuit, Kellogg's was given until the end of 2008 to either reformulate or discontinue products that didn't meet certain nutritional standards such as having more than 2 grams of saturated fat or over 12 grams of sugar, per serving, by the end of 2008. Given that Froot Loops Cereal Straws disappeared in 2009, this could very well have been the reason.