Kellogg Agrees to Change Labeling on Kashi Line

[SecularMotion]

Source: NY Times

The Kellogg Company, maker of some of the country’s most familiar breakfast cereal brands, said on Thursday that it had agreed to drop the terms “all natural” and “nothing artificial” from some products in its Kashi line as part of a settlement agreement ending a class-action lawsuit.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit, filed in 2011 in California, said the company used those terms on Kashi products that contained ingredients like pyridoxine hydrochloride, calcium pantothenate and soy oil processed using hexane, a component of gasoline.

Such ingredients occur naturally — wheat germ and flaxseed are sources of pyridoxine hydrochloride, for example — but food companies, as well as makers of vitamins, often use synthetic versions to control costs and ensure consistent supplies.

“We stand behind our advertising and labeling practices,” Kris Charles, a Kellogg spokeswoman, said in a statement. “We will comply with the terms of the settlement agreement by the end of the year and will continue to ensure our foods meet our high quality and nutrition standards while delivering the great taste people expect.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/09/business/kellogg-agrees-to-change-labeling-on-kashi-line.html?hp&_r=0

[KeepItReal]

1. PFTH!!! (spits out Kashi bar) WTF?!?!

Hexane processed soy oil!?!?

[BadgerKid]

2. Hexane = organic solvent.

My guess is they add hexane to soy mash to extract as much oil as possible. Then the hexane is evaporated.

[KeepItReal]

13. Obviously I barely passed Chemistry

Still I don't want no ethanes, hexanes, or polysorbate 80 in my "all natural" snack bar

[HuckleB]

5. You really don't have anything to worry about.

There's a lot of people who don't know much about the actual science of the matter spreading "Ick" memes about foods these days. Some of them, like the ridiculous "Food Babe" are making serious bucks peddling their anti-science fear. It's really sad.

[roseBudd]

6. Naturalistic fallacy ignorance is going to end up....

causing food prices to go up.

Should chickens suffer for the naturalistic fallacy? We woulod not subject out cats to taurine deficiency for "organic" purity.

http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRDC5104939

"MET is classified as an essential amino acid because it cannot be biologically produced by poultry and is necessary to maintain viability. MET is required for proper cell development and feathering in poultry. Natural feed sources with a high percentage of MET include blood meal, fish meal, crab meal, corn gluten meal, alfalfa meal, and sunflower seed meal. Synthetic MET is also used in poultry feed. This substance is a colorless or white crystalline powder that is soluble in water. It is regulated as an animal feed nutritional supplement by the Food and Drug Administration. ...Much is known about the nutritional needs of poultry and the feedstuffs available to poultry producers. The dietary demand for total MET declines with age for broilers and turkeys, while there is a decline during the early stages of pullet development, it increases just before laying begins and trails off as the birds age. The current proposal is somewhat of an estimate of the average demand for each class of birds based on the demand charts. Producers are feeding additional levels of protein, commonly soybean meal, to their birds in an attempt to meet the MET needs of the birds. This in effect is over feeding numerous amino acids in order to get enough MET into the birds. During the winter months, the birds would consume enough feed to meet their needs, but the additional protein in the feed was excreted into the barns causing ammonia levels to rise and blisters on the bird’s feet. During the summer months, the birds naturally consume less feed as their nutritional maintenance requirement is lower, they cannot consume enough feed to meet the necessary level of MET. Producers and certifiers are seeing an increase in feather pecking which can lead to cannibalism, agitation and nervousness and other behavioral issues. This behavior change is an animal welfare issue and the organic producers fail to understand why a logical solution cannot be adopted. If the rations could be tailored to the needs of the animal, why would the organic regulations prevent them from doing the right thing for the bird, especially if the overall intake would be at or below the allowed maximum over the course of its life"

[HuckleB]

7. Indeed. Too much ideology, not enough science.

[roseBudd]

9. Organic requires more land, more tilling...

Tilling requires fuel, and releases sequestered CO2

[HuckleB]

12. There are so many pieces to the balancing puzzle, indeed.

[roseBudd]

23. There will be 9 billion people

I can not accept famine as a solution

[HuckleB]

24. Indeed.

Refusing viable technologies based on undue fear is not a valid act, in this day and age.

[FlaGranny]

15. Bugs!

That's what chickens really want. I laugh when I see "vegetarian fed chickens" or eggs. Everyone who grows up in the country knows that chickens really want bugs. Chickens don't scratch in the soil looking for "meal." Probably way too many chickens to feed them bugs, but different animal-based "meals" would be much better for them than a vegetarian diet.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. i was on a market reserch panel to taste the stuff when it first came out.

Wayyyy back before 2005, I remember.
Oh my, they were SO proud of the stuff.
And all of the questions that this "independent" research company asked were very biased towards the product.

But hey...75.00 free bucks for 40 minutes work...fine by me at the time.

[HuckleB]

4. That is good pay!

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. Taht was back then. Womder what they pay now.

Craigslist publishes market research jobs.
Yahoo used to pay 100.00 for a 2 hour gig.
One time the guy who wanted to test drive web pages got pissed because I was reading everythnig on the page, kicked me out after 15 minutes, but I still got paid.

[IronLionZion]

10. Shit, I knew there was something about Kashi

I hope Barbara's bakery doesn't have such crap in it. hmmm...or arrowhead mills or alpen. damn it!

[HuckleB]

11. They probably do.

And they're still good products. No need to fear the modern Internet "ick" crowd. These foods are solid and safe.

[Bluenorthwest]

16. But of course the decision never said 'ick' or that the foods are not safe, what was said is that

the way they promote the foods is inaccurate and intended to create an image that is not factual. So you are speaking of things that are outside the topic at hand. The case was not asking 'are these foods solid and safe' it was about the advertising of those foods, not the safety or solidity of the foods.
They make commercials that show them hand harvesting and such. Kashi lays it on thick in terms of natural imagery and verbiage suggesting minimally processed whole foods, direct from the field.
It can be as safe and solid as it wants, you still can't say it cures cancer or that it is made in a way that it is not.

[HuckleB]

18. Not really.

The decision was purely political. And the initial responses were the classic fear and ick responses.

And no one ever claimed it could cure cancer, but there are plenty of "natural" scam artists pushing products that claim to cure cancer. The scams are everywhere.

[lunasun]

20. depends what you do not want almost all soy is hexane processed in good ol USA& GMO unless organic

certified organic...."natural" is a good marketing buzz word that is all

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_28435.cfm

[lunasun]

14. About time...............

[dkhbrit]

17. Ethanol

Ethanol is used in gasoline. Where's the uproar over liquor?!

Science will soon be dead in this country.

[HuckleB]

19. +1

[LanternWaste]

21. Does gasoline accurately list ethanol as an ingredient?

Does gasoline accurately list ethanol as an ingredient?

[Heywood J]

22. Yes, if the gasoline contains it.

http://www.hess.com/docs/us-safety-data-sheets/gasoline-all-grades.pdf?sfvrsn=2
Look for "ethyl alcohol".