Why Kelloggs Can No Longer Offer Cereal Deals For UK Shoppers

What's your favorite breakfast cereal? Maybe it's Chex, those crispy little grain squares that are as delicious bathed in milk as they are toasted with other ingredients and folded into snackable Chex Mix. Perhaps you enjoy Cinnamon Toast Crunch, the uber-sugary, uber-cruchy cinnamon treat that perfectly flavors any remaining milk left in your bowl. Or maybe you favor a crunchier — in the hippie sense — breakfast cereal like Kashi, whose whole grain selections such as Heart-to-Heart and Autumn Wheat Biscuits satisfy with their wholesome ingredients.

Whatever your breakfast cereal go-to, it's likely that a Kellogg's cereal makes it into the rotation at least once in a while. Launched back in 1894 when founder W.K. Kellogg created its flagship product Corn Flakes (via its official website), the Kellogg Company breakfast cereal lineup has expanded over the decades to include a roster of all-stars, including Special K, Rice Krispies, Raisin Bran, and Frosted Flakes. These cereals are bonafide household names, but if your morning tastes gravitate towards the company's sweeter offerings such as Frosted Flakes — colloquially known as "sugar cereals" (via Boston Globe) — and you happen to live in the UK, you might not be able to score certain deals on them at the supermarket in the future.

If you live in the UK, you may have heard about the proposed restrictions that could be placed on the sale and promotion of foods that have been deemed HFSS, or "high in fat, salt, and sugar." As part of a campaign to help curb childhood obesity that was announced last fall, according to the Guardian, in-store promotions of these junk foods will be limited, meaning that these products will no longer be featured in prominent store areas such as checkouts, entrances, and aisle ends.

The proposed law would also place restrictions on heavily promoting these items via sale prices, a fact Kellogg's took legal action over, arguing in its court case against the UK government that including sugary Kellogg's cereals such as Coco Pops and Frosties (the British brand names for Cocoa Krispies and Frosted Flakes) under the umbrella of HFSS foods was unfair because the restriction does not take into account the nutritional profile of these cereals once milk is added (via the Guardian).

According to the Guardian, Kellogg's ultimately lost its legal bid and will not appeal. As a result of the ruling, Kellogg cereals that are deemed high-sugar will no longer be promoted under BOGO sales — that is, if the proposed restrictions on junk food promotion come into effect at all. The Guardian reported in May that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson decided to delay the implementation of the sweeping restrictions, citing the UK's cost of living crisis as his reason, a move that was criticized by health campaigners such as British chef and television host Jamie Oliver.

Although it's unclear whether the restrictions on sale-price items will ever be implemented, one part of the legislation will come into effect in October — those restrictions on promoting HFSS foods in prominent store locations — and this will affect Kellogg's cereals such as Frosties (via the Guardian). "Location promotion restrictions will come into force in October 2022 and are expected to deliver over £57 billion (about $68 billion) of health benefits," a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care told the Guardian. "These changes will protect children up and down the country from products high in saturated fat, sugar, or salt."