Kellogg’s Chocolatey Krave Cereal [Inside the Label]

Get Fooducated: iPhone App Android App  RSS Subscription or  Email Subscription

Follow us on twitter: twitter.com/fooducate on facebook: facebook.com/fooducate

As if the cereal aisle wasn’t crowded enough. Kraft is introducing a new cereal called Krave:

Satisfy your inner chocovore with Kellogg’s Krave™ Chocolate cereal.  Inside each crunchy bite hides a smooth chocolate center. So what are you waiting for?  Get crunching!

Basically it’s a choco-filled cereal. It even boasts – “made with real chocolate”

Brilliant?

Let’s take a look inside…

What you need to know:

Let’s start with the ingredient list:

Chocolate Flavored Filling (sugar, soybean oil, skim milk, cocoa, chocolate, soy lecithin, palm oil, vanilla extract), sugar, whole grain oat flour, whole wheat flour, rice flour, oat fiber, corn bran, contains 2% or less of: brown sugar syrup, salt, palm oil, artificial flavor, mixed tocopherols for freshness, beta carotene for color, annatto color, BHT for freshness. Vitamins & Minerals….

As you can see, the first ingredient is sugar. The chocolate filling is more sugar and oil than actual chocolate. The palm oil helps keep the filling from melting at room temperature. Soy lecithin is commonly used in chocolates as an emulsifier, to keep the blend of ingredients … blended. The “Made with real chocolate” claim is a bit misleading here. You’d think there would be some serious chocolate here, not some flavoring mix…

The second ingredient after the filling is yet again sugar. The total sugar in this product is 11 grams, just under 3 teaspoons, per serving. For perspective, that 44 calories out of a total of 120 calories per serving. So over one third of each serving is sugar!

On the plus side – the grains used in this cereal are whole, which means more fiber than refined grains.

The artificial flavoring is a sign that to make this product truly tasty, the manufacturer had to add some secret flavorings made in a lab. By the way, natural or artificial flavorings are equally guilty. If you use quality ingredients, why would you add some other flavorings? Do you ever add “natural flavoring” ingredient to a home made dish?

Another improvement in this Kellogg’s kiddie cereals compared to Froot Loops or Apple Jacks – this cereal doesn’t have the nasty trans-fats or artificial colors that some of its cousins do.

Bottom line: Krave may makes sense as an afternoon snack instead of chocolate chip cookies, but not as part of a daily breakfast routine.

What to do at the supermarket:

Choose cereal that has a short ingredient list. Sugar should be less than 6 grams (here it is 11 grams). Fiber should be 3 or more grams (Ok here).